Bird of Paradise

Loyalty Day Prayer for our Nation

2010-04-30T11:48:00.002-10:00

Tomorrow and Sunday the local towns of Ilwaco and Long Beach celebrate Loyalty Day. I have been asked to offer a prayer on behalf of our nation. Here is the prayer that I will share tomorrow:

Prayer for our Nation

I lift up this prayer to the God of gods, the Lord of lords, the King of kings and the sovereign ruler of all nations. We are here together on this Loyalty Day morning to affirm our loyalty to the United States of America. As good citizens we affirm that we hold our citizenship as a sacred trust between one another and with you; for you alone are the giver of life and liberty; and no pursuit of happiness will ever find success apart from an abiding faith and trust in your mercy, grace and love.

For your glory I ask that those who lead us in the courts of government might be blessed with wisdom, humility and courage to do on our behalf what is right in your eyes. You alone are the judge of history and you alone know what is good and true and right. Forgive us as individual citizens and as a nation for our frequent failure to “do justice, to love mercy and to walk humbly at your side.” By the power of your Holy Spirit we ask that you would work in and through us “to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.”

Above all, we want to thank and praise you for the gifts of liberty and life that our nation was founded to protect, preserve and defend. And even as we reaffirm our loyalty to our nation we also pledge our lives and our sacred honor as tokens of our loyalty to you and your kingdom. We yearn for that day yet to come when we will declare that “the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.” I offer this prayer in the name of your Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

"Jesus Coming Soon"

2009-09-24T16:51:00.002-10:00

This is a bit dated, coming from the August 1, 2009, Honolulu Advertiser, but I just saw it today and will pass it on to you without comment. I think the irony speaks for itself.

'Jesus Coming Soon' Church Marks 86 Years

The Apostolic "Jesus Coming Soon" Faith Church on lower Middle Street will mark its 86th anniversary with services at 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. tomorrow.

Obama Loves the Little Children of the World . . . Mmm mmm mm!

2009-09-24T06:28:00.004-10:00

A public school in New Jersey has produced a couple of songs about how wonderful President Barak Hussein Obama is. A video of the children singing the songs can be found on YouTube. The lyrics can be found here.

My read on the matter? Simple. Check out the lyrics and substitute the name "Richard Milhouse Nixon" or "George W. Bush" or "James Earl Carter" or "William Jefferson Clinton" and see how it sounds (maybe skipping the verse about "first black president.")

Somehow I'm reminded of the Christian song, "Jesus, There's Something About that Name" by Gloria Gaither. Yet that is a song sung by people who believe that Jesus is the incarnation of God! If you believe that then praising Jesus makes sense. I find it hard to find any sense in these songs whatsoever. Especially such politically partisan paeons of praise from a tax-funded institution that children are required to attend under penalty of law.

One particular lyric in the Obama songs has been actually swiped from a Christian song: "Red and Yellow, Black and White, all are equal (they are precious) in his sight." In the original version Jesus is being praised for being the one who "loves the little children of the world" while here the praise is taken from Jesus and given to Obama instead. How ironic that the school children are not permitted to sing the original song but are encouraged to sing the "revised version."

On the other hand, one phrase in one of the lyrics does a wonderful job of summing up the level of education that our children are receiving these days: ". . . we all doth say, Hooray!" I suppose that a Quaker, King James or William Shakespeare might have used the word "doth" but any English teacher worth a ha'penny should have red-lined the grammar and sent it back for an immediate rewrite. On the other hand the word "doth" does sound sort of biblical. Perhaps that was the whole idea in the first place.

Mmm mmm mm!

Note: In all fairness I would guess that the songs were written by (a) student(s) at the school and taught as part of a music learning experience. If so I'll not knock the author(s) but praise them for their creative efforts. I would say the same if a student had written a song about Jesus, too. But the adults who control the school and the content of the children's educational experience would not, of course, have allowed that song to be sung. And that, I think, is what children are learning in school these days: Jesus is banned (ie. "bad"). Obama, on the other hand . . .

Remember, Weep & Protest

2009-09-11T07:15:00.007-10:00

Today is the 8th anniversary of "9/11." Here are my thoughts.

Remember the day

Remember the fallen

Thomas Patrick Cullen, NYFD

You can read about him here.

Weep

Protest

Note that the word protest comes from the Latin, pro testare, which means to "speak for" something. The temptation of 9/11 is to speak against everything. This has its place, of course, but redemption, hope and peace only come through proclaiming and then claiming a positive vision for the future. It is easy to speak against "radical Islamists," "terrorism" and "evil." It is harder, yet more constructive, to speak for "liberty," "freedom," "reconciliation," "hope," "peace" and "love."

I think that President Obama is on to something by designating today as a Day of National Service. Channeling all of our negative feelings into something positive and constructive would be a real "protest" demonstration! I'm not suggesting that recycling aluminum cans will enhance our national security. But smiling and being especially nice to everyone you see today will go a long way towards making our nation a happier, a more civil and, ultimately, a nicer place to live.

In the end, this is what will crush evil: Love.

"Do not be overcome by evil; but overcome evil with good." (Romans 12:21)

Fallout from Harvard Professor's Arrest

2009-07-22T07:03:00.003-10:00

It was unsettling to read about the arrest of Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. at his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts the other day. Conflicting stories make it difficult to determine what, exactly, took place and whether the arrest was justified or not.

What should not be in question, however, was the legitimacy of the police response to the report of a suspected break-in at Gates' home. All the complaining and finger-pointing has caused the Cambridge police to back down on pressing charges against Gates and this will inevitibly lead to an increasing reluctance for people to report or for the police to respond to suspected breaking-and-entering situations, especially if they involve African-American suspects.

As a result it seems that if you are an African-American burglar you should consider Cambridge, Massachusetts to be a great place to ply your trade right now. Just be sure to break in at the front door or through a front window of a home in full sight of neighbors. Or, better yet, be sure to choose a home owned by African-Americans. Even if a neighbor had the audacity to call the police you would most likely be able to get them to back off by refusing to show them your ID and threatening them with a law suit.

Michael Jackson--RIP

2009-07-07T11:37:00.002-10:00

Along with millions of others I watched this morning's memorial service for Michael Jackson and was very surprised and very pleased to find it dignified, moving and completely non-exploitive. The Christian context for the service became apparent at the very beginning as Jackson's casket was brought on stage with a gospel choir singing, "Soon, very soon, we are going to meet the King." There was an intentional irony in this insofar as Jackson was the "King of Pop" and, in a sense, we were all meeting him today for the very last time. But the image of a greater King to whom we must all give account continued as the memorial service was introduced with words from the family pastor, who also closed the memorial event with a closing prayer (after several networks had already cut away and had begun the usual blathering commentary) that contained the words, "the King of Pop must now bow down to the King of kings," and ended the prayer "in the glorious name of the Lord Jesus Christ . . . and will those who agree, say 'Amen!'"

Although 99% of the service was a tribute to Jackson's extraordinary talents as a creative writer, producer, choreographer, singer and dancer . . . "the greatest entertainer in history" as one speaker put it . . . there were two times when his humanity showed through with great power. First, when one speaker (I cannot remember who and I cannot remember his exact words) mentioned "the difficult times" that Jackson had to go through and "the sometimes wrong? decisions" that he had made. The second moment was the closing comments made by Jackson's 11 year-old daughter. She spoke of how he had been a wonderful Daddy to her and that she loved him. It was hard to hear her sobbing these words as she spoke them in the past tense.

How sad that we all too often turn mere human beings into "idols" and "stars"--as if they were truly heavenly luminaries! Jackson, like the tragic tale of Elvis Presley who preceded him in celebrity catastrophy, was a mere mortal like the rest of us. I beleive that the world expected too much from Jackson and that he did everything that he could to live up to the world's expectations. He did well . . . but no one could have been everything that was demanded and expected of this man who was, by nature, one who needed to please others as well as to love and be loved by them.

I am quite possibly wrong in my personal opinion that Jackson was innocent of molesting anyone. Jackson was the most a-sexual person I have ever seen. His love of children was profound and he invested much of his considerable fortune in creating a world where some of them could enjoy a respite from the hardships and disappointments of troubled neighborhoods and disfunctional families. I believe that the thought of sexually abusing one of these children would have been unthinkable and perhaps even unimaginable to Jackson. I take Jackson at his word when he said that he shared a warm glass of milk, tucked children in bed and shared the bed with them in a way that, in his own words, he described as being "sweet."

This is not behavior that we should condone as appropriate but it does not necessarily follow that Jackson's motives and behavior were anything less than well-intentioned and, in his own mind, honorable.

While I have not been a big fan of Jackson I have always been in awe of his considerable talent. His career acheived most of the greatness that was celebrated at today's public memorial.

In the end, however, the "King of Pop" must indeed bow before the "King of kings." In this he is no different from you or me. Yet we made him out to be somehow different from us, perhaps even thinking of him as being immortal. His death reminds us that we were wrong. Today, as we gazed at his casket on the stage of the Staples Center in Los Angeles, we saw ourselves in the mirror.

Pray for Iran

2009-06-20T18:21:00.001-10:00

Pray for the good, nobel and honorable people of Iran. Pray that God will intervene at the right time to bring genuine peace and prosperity to that nation as it undergoes the contractions and labor pains that are about to birth its future. May that future be blessed by God and be a blessing for the world. "For with God, nothing will be impossible." Amen.

Cost-Free Money Courtesy of Obama

2009-01-29T14:31:00.005-10:00

Yesterday I spoke with an otherwise intelligent friend of mine about the so-called "Economic Stimulus" bill currently passing through the US Congress with the support and praise of President Obama.

My friend said that when the Federal government needs more money they can always print more of it. Even if it means printing $1,000,000,000,000 (that's $1 trillion give or take).

I said, "But printing more money devalues the dollar, makes it worth less and fuels inflation."

"Not necessarily," my friend replied. "Obama has a plan . . . he has it all figured out."

I replied, "The only way that Obama could do this is if he either has a direct connection to God or has a wizard in his back pocket who can work magic."

My friend effectively ended the conversation with this reply, "Obama can do it. He will make it work. Just wait and see."

I can remember when Reagan's tax cuts were called "Voodoo Economics." But there was at least some measure of economic theory to support it. As a bonus, it worked well enough for the Bush administration to feel confident to try it again . . . albeit with mixed results. But at least there was some sense to the plan that was able to generate some reasonable debate.

The present economic "package" rolling through the Congress has little if any economic theory to support it. Even those economists who said the national economy needed a large infusion of government infusion of capital investment have now said that the about-to-be-enacted bill is a sham, putting virtually all of the money in the wrong places and at the wrong time (80% of it to be spent in 2010 and later) to be of any help to the current economy.

With my friend I witnessed an almost religious-like faith in our new President to perform miracles. Our Senators and Representatives in Congress know better, of course. But they are hoping that we don't. So far it looks like they are getting away with it.

Obama's Inauguration a Good Start to His Presidency

2009-01-21T08:40:00.006-10:00

I thought that yesterday's inauguration ceremonies went wonderfully. I appreciated the opening prayer by Pastor Warren and the closing, celebratory prayer by the honorable Pastor Lowery. The music was beautiful and the Chief Justice's muff added a human touch to the oath of office. I felt that President Obama's speech was strong and projected America's strength and resolve to both our enemies and friends overseas. His words to the American people were filled with the usual themes of optimism and hope that we have come to associate with him yet tempered by the reminder that government cannot do it all; that personal responsibility is central to our happiness and success as both individuals and as a nation. The urge for unity was only slightly off-set by a few political jabs at the policies of the Bush administration but that was not inappropriate in light of the fact that Obama was, in part, elected by folks who also rejected some or many of those policies and desired a change from them.

I thought that the Obama's took the time and courtesy to escort the former President and First Lady to the helicoptor and waved to them as they left was a remarkable act of grace . . . one that I hope will become a inaugural tradition in the years to come.

There were, of course, the scattered boos for President Bush and Vice President Cheney. Although inappropriate and disrespectful we are a free country where even boors are given the prividege and freedom to display their boorishness.

I honestly did not expect the Obamas to get out of their car and walk down Pennsylvania Avenue at all (because of the high security risk that it entailed) but I was glad they did. I particularly enjoyed them holding hands . . . and when Michelle would let go of Barak's hand to wave with her right hand she would cross her left hand in front of her and grab hold of his hand with a sweet awkwardness that I found almost touching.

I believe that Barak Obama did not expect to win the nomination or the presidency in this election. I do not think that he believed he was actually ready for it at this time. I think that there was even a bit of a panic when he realized that it might actually happen. These past few months have given him time to absorb this fact and to come to terms with the reality of actually bearing the responsibility of becoming the Commander In Chief and protector and defender of the Constitution.

I believe that President Obama is still a work in progress; one whose circle of friends and advisors has been woefully short of national and international leadership experience. I believe that he has done well by continuing several of the Bush administration's appointees insofar as this will buy him some time to get up to speed in these areas where he is weakest (international and defense) while focusing his own appointees in the areas related to domestic and economic policy.

I have a strong intuitive sense that, underneath all the political tap-dancing and the substance-lite rhetoric that brought him the nomination and subsequent election, Barak Obama is a man of deep and profound character. I have every reason to believe that he will be a good President for all of us. I will undoubtedly disagree with him on many, many issues but I have every reason to believe that, in spite of our profound differences, I will find good reason to respect him as a good and honest man.

May God bless President Obama. May God bless America. And, through America, may God find many, many opportunities to bless the world.

Congratulations to Senator Barak Obama

2008-11-04T17:22:00.003-10:00

Out here in Hawaii the polls are still open for another hour and a half. But the verdict is in with the predicted results in Pennsylvania and Ohio. I must soon join John McCain and every other American in offering congratulations to Senator Barak Obama on his being elected as the next President of the United States.

Along with many others I consider Mr. Obama to be a little bit "green behind the ears" (Obama's own phrase, by the way!) . . . perhaps one of the most green and least tested Presidents in our history. May God give him the wisdom to act wisely and well on our behalf. May God surround him with wise and worthy counsellors. May God grant our nation and the world peace and reconciliation during his tenure. May God bless America so that we might be a blessing to the world.

America! America! God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

America! America! God mend thine ev'ry flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!

America! America! May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness,
And ev'ry gain divine!

Aloha To My Fan(s)

2008-08-30T21:18:00.002-10:00

Gee, I'm humbled to think that some of you kept me on your "let me know what you post" page! I am well but just got distracted after over three years of daily blogging on just about everything. One would think that the Presidential and VP nominations and the national elections would stimulate me into doing or writing something! Yet I really don't have anything original to say on this subject at the moment. Let the other wags do it with their well-exercised tongues. The news is mostly good out of Iraq and neither better or worse in Afghanistan (the MSM always seems to be surprised when the Taliban thaws out each Spring and gets its act together for a few forays and assaults each Summer and Fall before going back to their deep freeze for the next five months or so. Don't they even know the cycle of the seasons???)

In any case, Mahalo and Aloha to anyone reading this and who remembers me from the dark ages of blogging. I'd love to hear from any and all of you.

Waipio (Waipahu) Wins the World for Hawaii & the USA

2008-08-24T14:06:00.002-10:00

It's been over a year since I have blogged anything at this site. But today I cannot help myself as the town next door to my own (Mililani) has won the Little League World Series . . . beating Mexico, Matamoros in the final championship game today 12 to 3. This is the second time in four years that a local team on Oahu has accomplished this amazing feat.

Many of the kids on this team have gone to the same school that some of the kids in my church attend. Hawaii is a small place and we all feel the joy when someone succeeds and we all share the disappointment together when we fall short. Today is a day for joy! Congratulations to the outstanding players, coaches and parents of our World Champion Waipio Little Leage World Champions!

Memorial Day Gratitude

2007-05-28T08:53:00.000-10:00

Dennis says it well. We remember and are grateful.

Korean Wedding In Hawaii

2007-05-27T21:39:00.000-10:00

The Korean Presbyterian congregation that "nests" in my church celebrated a wedding yesterday. The congregation's founding pastor's youngest son and his bride flew in from New Jersey to be married in the presence of their family. I was invited and enjoyed sitting "out front" for a change.

The wedding was simple but included a few "twists" both Korean and Hawaiian.

Here is the ceremony itself.

Immediately after the ceremony the bride and groom first bow to the bride's parents and then, as in this picture, the groom's parents.

They then face the whole gathering of family and friends . . .

. . . and bow to them as well. As the officiating pastor put it, "The deeper the bow the greater the sign of respect and gratitude."

After the recessional the bride and groom returned to the front of the church and sang a nice duet for everyone.

Then the groom's niece, who attends my congregation as well as the Korean church, danced two hulas in honor of the newly married couple.

The groom's older brother then followed with another tradition (the Korean pastor I was sitting with said that it was a Korean "tradition") that could only be called publicly humbling the groom. Among other things the groom was required to do ten pushups in front of everyone (I had never before seen someone in a tuxedo do pushups in the front of a church before!). He then made the groom promise to his bride that he would provide "satisfaction" for her on their honeymoon night. This he did and his bride replied that she hoped that he would!

They then signed the marriage certificate and cut the cake with the usual American tradition of feeding each other a piece.

The wedding ceremony was Christian, the language, humor and etiquette were Korean, the dancing Hawaiian and the happiness was universal! The bride, the groom, their parents, siblings, extended families and friends were almost all immigrants to the United States. Those I know, one-by-one, are gaining American citizenship.

The United States is blessed to have them come on board! And, yes, the groom did kiss the bride after the "I do's!"

For those of you who like a little movement and sound here are two brief videos clips. The first shows the end of Grace's first hula. The second one shows the cutting of the cake and the "first feeding!"

The Rev. Dr. Jerry Falwell -- R.I.P.

2007-05-15T16:10:00.000-10:00

Jerry Falwell died unexpectedly this morning while sitting at his desk in his church office. He was 73 years old.

Falwell was a pastor (of the Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Virginia, a church he founded). He was a founder, President and Chancellor of a University (Liberty University). He was the founder and leader of the "Moral Majority," one of the most successful political organizations in the history of the United States, registering over 15 million voters between 1979 and the early 1980s.

Falwell was a Christian fundamentalist and proud of it. I can't say that I agreed with his theology or that I even agreed with his politics. Only the Rev. Dr. Pat Robertson made more outrageous comments or expressed more controversial opinions than Falwell (his early segregationist positions, his "Clinton Chronicles video, his opposition to sanctions against South Africa's aparthied government, post 9/11 comments, his diatribe against the Teletubbies, etc.) Unlike Robertson, however, Falwell often apologized for his statements and, over time, changed his mind in several important matters.

Above all else Falwell was a Christian. He was a disciple of his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To the best of his ability he served his Lord faithfully and well. He used his many talents wisely and well and left behind a legacy of accomplishments unstained by financial or moral scandal.

Falwell was a passionate man who inflamed passion in millions of Americans who saw in him a champion of their conservative social values.

No one ever accused Jerry Falwell of being wishy-washy or being a flip-flopper in his central beliefs.

He was intelligent enough to change with the times and, when he felt that the Moral Majority had served its purpose and had begun to be a stumbling block for his Christian ministries in Lynchburg, he let it go, leaving to others the torch that he had raised and carried for so many years.

Falwell worked hard and, in the end, died quietly.

He was a phenomenon and he was a personality filled with just the sort of "sound bites" that fed the hunger of the news media.

His life on this earth has now passed away. He is at home with the Lord and, as the Lord himself says, "His works will follow him."

He leaves behind a nation divided on whether his influence on America was a good thing or a very, very bad one. History and historians are, of course, fickle and biased. So are pundits and media commentators. Each of these will have their say in the days ahead. In the end it will Jesus who will render the final judgment on Jerry Falwell.

Falwell, like myself, trusted in the mercy of Almighty God and the forgiveness of sins through the atoning death and saving resurrection of Jesus Christ. I do not believe that his faith and hope have been disappointed.

Quote of the Day

2007-05-14T18:46:00.000-10:00

Yesterday San Francisco Giant's rookie Fred Lewis went 5-6 including hitting for the cycle, only the 22nd Giant to ever do so. The Giants wound up whipping the Colorado Rockies 15-2. After the game Colorado manager Clint Hurdle was asked what he thought about his first meeting with Fred Lewis. Hurdle replied with this memorable comment:We didn't pitch him as effectively as we'd like to. We've got a lot of areas now where we know not to throw the ball to after this game. We were able to pick up a lot of that.
Duh . . . I guess!

Christian Contrasts--American Youth Rally & Peshwar (Pakistan) Easter Celebration

2007-05-05T16:27:00.000-10:00

The April 2007 issue of Christianity Today carried two articles back-to-back. I found irony in their juxtaposition.

The first concerned a Passion New Year's concert/conference in Atlanta that drew over 23,000 college students for four days of "loud, demonstrative worship" complete with 12 giant projection screens. The Passion events have been held for the past 10 years and will now go international in their attempt to draw young adults into making prayerful commitments to follow Jesus Christ in his Great Commission to go into the world and make disciples of all nations.

This gathering of middle/uppper middle-class American youth (representing 1,200 college/university campuses) packed into the Atlanta Hawk's Philips Arena with lightshows and Christian rock (like Chris Tomlin) and key speakers like John Piper, Beth Moore and Louie Giglio, stood in stark contrast to the small band of Pakistani Christians who celebrated Easter in Peshwar, Pakistan, surrounded and protected by armed Pakistani soldiers armed with automatic rifles.

This incident was captured in word and picture by another young Christian named Joshua T. White who spent a year in Pakistan as a representative of a Christian organization called Institute for Global Engagement.

White was captured by the image of an Islamic nation allowing, even in one of its strongest Islamist strongholds, permitting Christians to walk through the streets in a pre-dawn Easter ritual.

I have attended large Christian gatherings for Promise Keepers, Women of Faith, Billy Graham Crusades, Greg Laurie Harvest Crusade and other gatherings of Christian adults and youth on large scales.

I have also gathered with Christians in Amman, Jordan, and in Soviet-era Russian Orthodox churches and seminaries in Russia and the Ukraine and in small barrio congregations in Mexico.

The faith may be the same but the experience of that faith in context is very different.

In Atlanta, standing up in an arena with 22,999 other Christians is anything but an exercise in vulnerability or public "cross-carrying." One can easily leave that arena and be indistinguishable from anyone else to be seen on the city's streets.

Not so for the Christians in Peshwar. Catholics, Anglicans, Protestants and Pentacostals all walked together as one Body through a city where they are not only labeled as a barely-tolerated religious minority but where they are known by sight by every Muslim to be less equal and subject to very different applications of the law when conflict arises between any of them and any Muslim.

Yet the same Lord is Lord of his saints in Pakistan and in Atlanta, Georgia.

In some ways the youth in Atlanta face a greater test of faith than their Pakistani counterparts. Like the rich young ruler of the Gospels, they have much in this world to lose. Along with the rest of the "wealthy West" (of which I am also a member) God will require much from them. And, insofar as they have been blessed with abundance in wealth and education and other worldly resources, they have much to offer the coming Kingdom of God.

Those Peshwari Christians, on the other hand, have little but faith and life . . . and life, too, is a fragile thing in their corner of the world in this particular time of history.

Joshua White writes that he learned a great many things while in Pakistan. I suspect that, if their hearts are truly possessed by God, those college students in Atlanta, should they follow Christ into foreign missionary service, will also learn as much or more than they will teach and recieve as much or more than they will give.

In the end it is faith and trust in Jesus and a full embrace of his spirit of love alone that will count for anything in our lives.

I suspect that when being a Christian requires you to be protected by armed guards, you quickly learn to take your faith very seriously.

Study Shows Clergy Have Top Job Satisfaction

2007-04-23T16:44:00.000-10:00

A study released last week shows that 87% of clergy surveyed (compared to 47% of all workers on average) stated that they were "very satisfied" with their work and 67% (compared to 33% average) added that they were also "very happy" in what they did. Physical therapists and Firefighters came in second and third respectively with over 75% indicating that they were "very satisfied" in their profession.

The Chicago Tribune, which wrote the story, stated that
The worker satisfaction study . . . is based on data collected since 1988 on more than 27,500 randomly selected people . . . (representing) 198 occupations.
Last on the satisfaction list were "Hand packers and Packagers" followed by Bartenders, Laborers (not construction), Waiters/Servers & Roofers.

As a pastor myself, I think that the 87% satisfaction rating for clergy seems a little high. I have to ask myself, am I "very satisfied" with my vocation 87% of the time? Am I "very happy" with my work 67% of the time?

Actually, I might come very close to those figures in my own life and ministry but I have been reading a lot of "gloom and doom" statistics lately as to how 20% of Presbyterian ministers leave the ministry in the first 7 years and that, nationwide, nearly 9 out of 10 ministers leave ministry before retirement.

Stress and burn-out are frequently cited as taking the most wear and tear out of a pastor. Congregational conflict and lack of functional support systems also contribute to this problem along with long hours and seemingly endless evening meetings!

As with most polls I take this one with a grain of salt. But I find it encouraging that at least one study has found that clergy are, for the most part, a happy and satisfied group of people. I have found this to be true for most of the clergy that I have been associated with (from all denominations) over my 28 years of ordained ministry.

Perhaps its because we only work on Sunday mornings? Not!

Rather, I give the credit to having the opportunity to serve and witness to Someone greater than myself and having the privilege of sharing in some of the most intimate and personal areas of people's lives; including birth, marriage and death (and everything in between).

I know that I could never do what I do without the power of the living God (Father, Son & Holy Spirit) at work in me. As one clergyman once put it, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!"

I will not retire wealthy in finances (although my Presbyterian Church USA denomination has a wonderful pension plan) but I will have lived a life in which I was (most of the time, at least) "very satisfied" and "very happy."

Apparently, "easy" does not equal "happy" and "satisfied" when it comes to one's profession.

I entered ministry reluctantly but with a joyful heart (after already completing a graduate degree in another discipline). I have never regretted saying "Yes" to what I believe was a "call" from God.

I would like to share something that I have found to be true for everyone, no matter what work they perform: If you seek to please God in all that you do, if you work at becoming the sort of person that God created you to be and if you can somehow rise to the place where you begin to "love one another" in the same way that Jesus showed love to us, then you will almost always be "very satisfied" and "very happy" . . . even if you are a "Hand packer!"

US Agent Says There Were WMDs Found (& then lost) In Iraq

2007-04-20T15:28:00.000-10:00

Were there weapons of mass destructions in Iraq when the United States et al invaded that country in 2003? According to The Spectator, highly respected and decorated Davd Gaubatz,
having served for 12 years as an agent in the US Air Force’s Office of Special Investigations . . . a trained Arabic speaker, was hand-picked for postings in 2003, first in Saudi Arabia and then in Nasariyah in Iraq. His mission was to locate suspect WMD sites, discover threats against US forces in the area and find Saddam loyalists, and then send such intelligence to the Iraq Survey Group and other agencies . . .

Between March and July 2003, he says, he was taken to four sites in southern Iraq — two within Nasariyah, one 20 miles south and one near Basra — which, he was told by numerous Iraqi sources, contained biological and chemical weapons, material for a nuclear programme and UN-proscribed missiles. He was, he says, in no doubt whatever that this was true.
In subsequent investigations by two US Congressmen, it was discovered that all 60 of Gaubatz' classified intelligence reports from Iraq have disappeared, supposedly erased from a computer at a US base in Saudi Arabia where they had been sent by Gaubatz.

According to the article, Saddam's thugs teamed up with Syria and Russia to excavate the materials and ship them to Syria after the group responsible for uncovering these weapons refused to follow up on Gaubatz' reports.

Apparently US intelligence knows where these materials are being stored in Syria. They also, apparently, are aware that the nuclear materials are now being enriched in Syrian labratories.

Why haven't we heard of this? The article speculates that it is because the chain of events is too revealing of the total incompetence of the Bush administration's handling of the invasion and that Democrats do not want to draw any attention to the possibility that there actually were WMDs in Iraq since that would undermine their entire basis for opposing the war in the first place.

Is there any truth to this story? If not then we have just one more conspiracy to debunk.

If the story is true, however, it would shake up the geo-political status of not only the Middle East but of the entire world. Syria, Russia, Iran & North Korea collaborating with Saddam's Baathist's to create the world's first "Arab/Muslim Nuclear Bomb"?

Personally, I expect this story, like so many others, to be casually dismissed by the MSM and relegated to the obscurity of internet blogs like mine where it will undoubtedly disappear from sight and mind entirely.

And the truth? One day it will be revealed to us all. Hopefully not with an unexpected and unusually large explosion somewhere.

One Thumb Down for Michael Medved & the VT Shootings

2007-04-17T10:40:00.001-10:00

Yesterday morning, as the shocking news of the Virginia Tech shootings began to ooze its way through the media, talk show host Michael Medved picked up on the initial description of the shooter as being "Asian." "Could this mean 'Asian' as in Chinese or Japanese?" Medved asked, "or as in Indian or Pakistani?"

Medved then went on to speculate as to whether the shooter was possibly a Muslim linked with terrorism.

While I appreciate Medved's transparency in opening his mind to us and letting his stream of consciousness fall out of his head through his mouth I do wish he would have stuck his foot in it a little more tightly and held his peace . . . at least on this matter.

Wild speculations serve no purpose in covering an unfolding news story. It is always best to let the facts come out and deal with them as the pieces of the story add up and begin to form a coherent picture of what has taken place.

Medved stirred up trouble where none was necessary. He conjured up fear and anxiety where none was called for. The facts of yesterday's tragedy provided more than enough fodder for any talk show host. To create a speculative scenario out of thin air was, at the worst, irresponsible, and, at the best, simply bad form.

One thumb down for the mispoken Michael Medved on yesterday's show.

Heroes of Virginia Tech

2007-04-17T10:31:00.000-10:00

There were heroes among the victims at Virginia Tech yesterday. The Jerusalem Post considers the life of one of those who was killed yesterday while holding the door to his classroom closed as the killer continued to shoot through the door.

The man was Professor Liviu Librescu, a 75-year-old survivor of the holocaust. He is but one of many who tried to do the right thing against rampaging evil.

Universal Precautions and Virginia Tech

2007-04-17T10:10:00.000-10:00

The church I serve as Pastor has a health & safety policy that we have adopted. It is commonly known as “Universal Precautions.”

What this means is that, when we must interact with bodily fluids such as blood we always presume that it is infected with the AIDs virus or hepatitis or some other serious contagion. This way we always approach the child’s cut (for example) with the highest possible caution. We wear latex or other protective gloves, we use a dilute bleach solution to clean up areas that may have been contaminated and so on.

We know that it is very unlikely that anyone with a bleeding cut is infected with HIV or hepatitis and that even if they were the chances of transferring that infection to another person is slight. BUT, we always presume the worse in order to protect our preschool teachers, office staff and church members.

In a related matter, whenever we see a police helicopter circling the area where our Preschool is located we immediately order a “lock-down” of our children in their classrooms. In the past we have had bank robbers escape from our neighborhood banks by hopping our school fence and cutting through our play area. We have increased the height of our fence in recent years to prevent this from happening again but, when we see a police helicopter nearby we do not take any chances. We gather the children into a safe place.

I have no doubt that the health services and medical personnel at Virginia Tech are well-trained in the policy of “Universal Precautions.”

It is sad and disappointing, however, that this same preventive measure was not taken in regards to yesterday’s tragic shooting.

In order to protect the students, staff and others on campus that day there should have been a policy in place to immediately secure the safety of everyone and to inform them of the nature of the threat.

It is human nature to generally assume the best. In the case of Virginia Tech it was (fatally) assumed that the shooter had finished his business for the day after he had shot and killed two students in the dormitory.

The concept behind “Universal Precautions,” however, corrects this natural inclination, by forcing us to presume the worst-case scenario and to be prepared to deal with it should it come to pass.

The evil spirit and broken mind of the student assassin was the “infection” that was set loose on the Virginia Tech campus yesterday. This “virus” carried two handguns and was well equipped and prepared to do serious injury to others.

Had the Virginia Tech administration, the campus security and local law enforcement practiced “Universal Precautions” after the initial killings yesterday it is quite possible, indeed likely, that the killer’s freedom to move about and choose his next targets could have been significantly reduced.

Along with most commentators I place the ultimate responsibility for this tragedy on the young man who did the killing. On the other hand, I pray that the three university campuses where my three daughters will be attending next year have campus security plans that include the concept of “Universal Precautions.”

Virginia Tech--God Weeps

2007-04-16T14:42:00.000-10:00

Don Ho R.I.P.--Aloha

2007-04-14T17:26:00.000-10:00

Don Ho died this morning at the age of 76.

It is hard to imagine Hawaii, or at least Waikiki, without Don Ho.

Some people, like Herb Caen and San Francisco, become inseparable from a particular time and place. Don Ho and Waikiki were like that.

My wonderful wife first met Don Ho when she was a little girl living in San Francisco. On a visit to Hawaii with her parents her father, who had done some private work for Ho, took her to his show and introduced her.

Some 40 years later my wife and I took her father & step-mother to the Don Ho show and I got to meet him myself. His health was poor but he still put on a cliche-filled, self-deprecating and entertaining show.

Don Ho was a good man who helped shape the ambiance of Waikiki for more than a generation of tourists. He was not particularly representative of Hawaiian music by any stretch of the imagination but he was respected. The Honolulu Advertiser's headline called him "The King of Waikiki Entertainment."

His schtick was "Tiny Bubbles" and he squeezed every drop of sentimentality out of that song as he could! He did it with so much class that nobody really minded all that much.

Don Ho: We will miss you. Thank you for singing for us all these years. Aloha.

Note: You can access the Honolulu Advertiser's Don Ho photo gallery here and his biography here.

Bunny R.I.P.--We Love You, Lizzie--Aloha

2007-04-14T11:42:00.000-10:00

My Daugher #1, who lives in LA, has two bunnies in her apartment, Mr. Darcy (call him "Mr.") and Lizzie. They are a bonded pair. Lizzie has had bouts of illness since my daughter adopted them and the past few days she has not been herself. An appointment had been made to visit the vet this morning but last night around midnight, Lizzie died.

My daugher loves her bunnies (and most every animal she gets to know) with deep and passionate feeling. Lizzie's passing will be hard for her and we are encouraging her with our words and prayers of support from 2,000 miles away.

Mr. Darcy seems to be doing OK so far but time will tell how this will change the dynamics of my daughter's "household."

In any case, I thought I'd remember Lizzie with two photos, one I took myself almost two years ago and one, the "cuddly one", taken just a few days before Easter. Lizzie is the one with the flop-ears.

Bunnies can, I think, teach us humans something important about friendship and love.

Lizzie, We love you. Aloha!

Easter Poem for 2007

2007-04-06T21:49:00.000-10:00

Each year I write a new Easter poem. This year's came by accident. After a long, early morning walk (due to a short-term medical condition that disrupted my sleep-cyle) I sat down and began to jot down a few pre-dawn thoughts.

I was surprised when the thoughts immediately became a poem and even more surprised when it concluded as an Easter poem! My muse was clearly having a good day! (I only write what I am told, you know!)

Here it is. Perhaps a part of it will speak to your own life and the words and Word that make you who you are.

Poetry & Prose-ac

It seems to me . . . almost . . .
As if most poets are depressed;
Throwing words around like Prozac
To distract, to hide or to cure
Their malady.

Such pills have, for some,
The power to be recycled for use
By others who eat them chew them
Swallow them for both immediate and
Timed relief.

I, too, find words to be reusable.
Some I rework into the threads
Of new ideas where they find new
Contexts in which to burst forth
And flower.

Other words I use more sparingly,
Like precious gems in short supply.
Like diamonds such words can cut through
Glass and steel plate but must be used
With caution.

With words I question God and then
With other words (and some the same)
I answer my own questions from the Word
That has been given me
From above.

Still other words fly out, returning
Void to void, increasing nothingness
To infinite proportions. Yet from the void
God spoke his Word and began
The beginning.

Every word comes from Word and carries
Within a spark of life and light and hope.
Each word has the potential and promise
To create new worlds and universes
Within us.

Depressed? Don’t simply take a pill . . .
Take a word or two or three and string
Them together into the shape of a cross
Perhaps or, better yet, an
Empty tomb.

-Jim Tweedie, March 6, 2007

Good Friday

2007-04-06T21:39:00.000-10:00

Grunewald paints it as well as anyone. It's hard to imagine that this is God's "love letter" to the world! It's also hard to imagine what the world would be like today were it not for Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection. Such love both frightens and attracts me. Ultimately, when I allow it to possess me, it saves me.

Maundy Thursday

2007-04-06T21:32:00.000-10:00

We held a quiet, simple Maundy Thursday service last night. The choir sang and we all sat together at one long Lord's Table that was set up down the center aisle of the church. We shared the Gospel stories of betrayal, the Lord's Supper, the washing of feet and the New Commandment to "love one another as I have loved you."

The Lord was with us and, by faith and God's amazing grace, he followed us to our homes afterwards!

I wrote a short, simple song for the service. Here are the words.

"Is it I? It is I!"
Words & Music by Jim Tweedie

Is it I? Is it I? Is it I, Lord Jesus?
Could I kiss you away and betray you, Jesus?
Could I trade you away for something I love more?
Could it be? Can it be it is I?

Is it I? Is it I? Is it I, Lord Jesus?
Could I leave and forsake you my dear, Lord Jesus?
Could I turn from your side, run and hide, Lord Jesus?
Could it be? Can it be it is I?

I may not be a Judas but I’m just like the rest
Who all turned from you Jesus when it came to the test.
Is it I? It is I! No I can’t tell a lie!
When I ask, “Is it I?” It is I.

Is it I? Is it I? Is it I, Lord Jesus?
Could I really deny that I know you, Jesus?
Could I do this today? Even now, Lord Jesus?
Could it be? Can it be it is I?

I may not be a Judas but I’m just like the rest
Who all turned from you Jesus when it came to the test.
Is it I? It is I! No I can’t tell a lie!
When I ask, “Is it I?” It is I.

—Maundy Thursday, April 05, 2007
Based on Mark 14:17-21

British Sailors Fly Home with Iranian "Goody Bags"

2007-04-05T21:32:00.000-10:00

The New York Times relates that,
Fifteen Royal Navy personnel detained at gunpoint in the Gulf were heading home to Britain today, seated in business class on a British Airways flight from Tehran with shiny new suits and goody bags filled with traditional Iranian gifts.
"Goody Bags"? "GOODY BAGS"????????

And "shiny new suits"?

I should think that they ought to have prefered to wear their British uniforms and, as for the "goody bags," they ought to have dropped them into the nearest trash recepticle as a token of their esteem.

I have so much respect for the British government and the British people. They have been time and again the last bastion of civilization in Europe and our closest and staunchest ally in just about everything you could name. Yet today I am of two minds.

One part of me wants to laugh at the image of these kidnapped British sailors smiling and waving and carrying on with handshakes and "thank yous" and videotaped confessions and apologies made to the representatives of a government who were using and abusing them of every conceivable legal right and stripping them of every shred of human dignity that they could get. The Onion could not have come up with a scenario such as this. National Lampoon could not have come up with a cast of such wild and crazy kids as these seemingly air-headed sailors turned out to be.

The other part of me just wants to cry. Is this the best that Britain has to offer? Who trained these young men and woman? Do I feel safer knowing that these are the modern representatives of what was once the greatest navy in the world? Czn these possibly be the progeny of Lord Horatio Nelson who gave his right eye at Corsica, his right arm at Tenerife, and his life at Trafalgar.

These 15 British sailors will never find themselves honored with a state burial in St. Paul's Cathedral. But they do have their "goody bags."

John Walker Lindh Wants a Better Deal

2007-04-05T21:24:00.000-10:00

Remember John Walker Lindh, the "American Taliban" (sic) guy who worked out a deal that lowered his sentence from two consecutive life sentences to just 20 years?

Well, after seeing the even better deal cut by Australian Guantanamo detainee David Hicks earlier this week, Lindh wants to revisit his own sentencing.

Captain Ed has a good post on the subject that reminds us why Mr. Lindh should thank Allah that he got the good deal that he got.

A Short List of Pelosi's Admirers

2007-04-05T21:07:00.000-10:00

Nancy Pelosi's recent visit to Israel and Syria has left most of us scratching our heads and wondering what in the world does she think she's doing and who in the world does she think she is?

Fortunately, WorldNetDaily reveals that there are those who are able to see the whole affair clearly and with applause. Among these Pelosi supporters are:

Jihad Jaara, a senior member of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terror group and the leader of the 2002 siege of Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity, declared that, I think it's very nice and I think it's much better when you sit face to face and talk to Assad. It's a very good idea. I think she is brave and hope all the people will support her. All the American people must make peace with Syria and Iran and with Hamas. Why not?"
Abu Abdullah, a leader of Hamas' military wing in the Gaza Strip, said the willingness by U.S. lawmakers to talk with Syria "is proof of the importance of the resistance against the U.S."

Khaled Al-Batch, a spokesman for Islamic Jihad, expressed hope that Pelosi would continue winning elections, and added that her Damascus visit demonstrated she understands the Middle East.

Meanwhile, today's editorial in the left-leaning Washington Post had something a little less enthusiastic to say:
Ms. Pelosi was criticized by President Bush for visiting Damascus at a time when the administration -- rightly or wrongly -- has frozen high-level contacts with Syria. Mr. Bush said that thanks to the speaker's freelancing Mr. Assad was getting mixed messages from the United States. Ms. Pelosi responded by pointing out that Republican congressmen had visited Syria without drawing presidential censure. That's true enough -- but those other congressmen didn't try to introduce a new U.S. diplomatic initiative in the Middle East. "We came in friendship, hope, and determined that the road to Damascus is a road to peace," Ms. Pelosi grandly declared.

Never mind that that statement is ludicrous: As any diplomat with knowledge of the region could have told Ms. Pelosi, Mr. Assad is a corrupt thug whose overriding priority at the moment is not peace with Israel but heading off U.N. charges that he orchestrated the murder of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri. The really striking development here is the attempt by a Democratic congressional leader to substitute her own foreign policy for that of a sitting Republican president. Two weeks ago Ms. Pelosi rammed legislation through the House of Representatives that would strip Mr. Bush of his authority as commander in chief to manage troop movements in Iraq. Now she is attempting to introduce a new Middle East policy that directly conflicts with that of the president. We have found much to criticize in Mr. Bush's military strategy and regional diplomacy. But Ms. Pelosi's attempt to establish a shadow presidency is not only counterproductive, it is foolish.
What to make of all this?

I would suggest that the word "chutzpah" might be appropriate except for the fact that I would not like to further insult the nation of Israel by associating a nice Yiddish word with someone who managed to make Syria look good at Israel's expense.

On the other hand, I don't think that Israel would take any offense if I suggested the word "yenta" instead.

HT: PowerLine

Iran Releases British Sailors--Why All the Smiles?

2007-04-04T16:36:00.000-10:00

Well, it appears that the 15 British sailors captured or kidnapped by Iran have been released. This is, of course, good news. But why, I wonder, were the British sailors waving and smiling so happily at their public relations meeting with Iranian President Ahmadinejad?

What possibly could have been threatened to compel this happy behavior? Even the NY Times article that described the "ceremony" (and provided these two photos of the event) noted that,
Iranian state television showed Mr. Ahmadinejad smiling and shaking the hands of some of the captives. Dressed in clothes apparently issued by their captors, the Britons waited in line to meet the president, looking almost as if they were a visiting sports team. “We are grateful for your forgiveness,” one said to Mr. Ahmadinejad, seemingly off the cuff.
I could not help but notice that at least three of the British sailors in the photo at the top of this post (the ones on the right) were not smiling. Indeed, these three looked as though they would have rather faced down a firing squad than be caught smiling at a farcical and humiliating moment like this.

Even so, I can only wonder where were the expressions of defiance? Where was there any sign of uncooperation with their captors? Where was there any refusal to wear civilian clothing instead of their uniforms which were both their right and privilege to wear?

I can only contrast this smiling group of seeming happy Brits with these more sober photographs of the crew of the USS Pueblo, after they had been captured by North Korea back in 1968.

These men signalled their resistance and displeasure . . . and suffered greatly for it in return. Surely, at the very least, the British sailors could have politely refused to eat in front of a camera or to wear the hijab. Why didn't they? Perhaps we'll know soon enough. But, instead of becoming icons of the famous British aplomb they have become icons instead of the suicidal impulse to act as though all it takes to get along in this world is to, "Smile, darn ya, smile!"

In this last photo it is clear that Ahmadinejad is smiling. He is happy. He has scored another hollow victory for a morally bankrupt regime held together by spiritual and mortal terror.

While it may not have been prudent to have done so, it would have been interesting to see what would have happened if this British sailor had chosen to spit on the ground in front of Ahmadinejad instead of shaking his hand.

Jeb Bush Snubbed by University of Florida

2007-03-24T17:28:00.000-10:00

Gee, it seems that almost everybody is getting honorary doctor's degrees these days. Usually all it takes is to donate $1 million or deliver a commencement address.

At the University of Florida, however, faculty are getting either more stingy or more selective as to who they are willing to give this so-called honor.

Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, nominated to receive such a degree by the University "Honorary Degrees, Distinguished Alumnus Awards and Memorials Committee," was blackballed on a vote of 38-28 by the full faculty senate.

The University's President is reportedly "dismayed" by the vote but I'm sure that Jeb won't mind. If the collective total of earned degrees carried by the members of the University of Florida's faculty senate don't add up to any more common sense that this then how much value can there be in an "honorary" degree?

In any case, if you have not yet decided whether or not to send your child to the University of Florida next Fall, this might help tip the balance towards a school that holds a higher "degree" of respect for tolerance and diversity.

ht:wdvh980 for the original photo (which they cribbed from elsewhere)

U.S. Military Prepares for Funding Cuts from Democratic Congress

2007-03-24T17:14:00.000-10:00

No one doubts that the military will get the money it needs to do its work in Iraq and Afghanistan. But the political farce being played out around this important subject by the Democratic majority in the U.S. Congress has raised some eyebrows.

As we should expect, the U.S. Military is busy making contigency plans just in case something goes wrong with the minds of our elected representives in Washington DC.

Click on the photo above to see several more creative ideas as to how to defend the world on $5 a day.

ht:Powerline

Video of Jesus: An Awesome Merger of Art, Media, Theology & Faith

2007-03-20T12:33:00.000-10:00

Check out this video hosted by Woodside Bible Church in Troy, Michigan. It's called "Splat." After you watch it you will understand why it has that name . . . but you will also feel that a more elegant name might also be in order!

Warning: This video is a witness to the saving Lordship of Jesus Christ. It may touch your heart!

Genetically Altered Rice Creates Problems and Raises Metaphysical Questions

2007-03-18T22:07:00.000-10:00

An interesting story appeared in this morning’s newspaper concerning the current dire straits of the U.S. rice industry.

It appears that some genetic re-engineering of certain strains of rice have cross-pollinated or somehow gotten mixed in with other commercial strains of natural hybrid rice. This renders the crop unacceptable to most of Europe which is very skeptical of the health implications of such rice.

As usual everybody is blaming the Department of Agriculture for the mess. I say that it is just another manifestation of Murphy’s Law!

This does, however, raise an interesting question about genetics and evolution.

Natural selection expects rice (and every other genetically-based life form . . . which is every life form) to create the occasional genetic mutation. According to the theory, most of these naturally-occurring mutations will be either useless or detrimental to the survival of the new strain of rice. Some, however, will prove helpful and, over time, create a new and improved variety.

I find it somewhat amusing to discover that even when humans try their hardest to improve rice through genetic manipulation the results are viewed with suspicion and distrust and fear for the entire ecosystem . . . including ourselves.

But when, I ask, has there ever occurred a natural case of some new strain of rice appearing that was suddenly harmful to humans or the environment?

I should think that the odds of random, natural genetic shifts in rice would have long ago created a rice that is toxic and poisonous to humans and other living things. Certainly the odds would have far suggested this scenario than that the plant would have evolved with a structure so friendly and nutritious and benign!

If good intentions in genetic manipulation have apparently created worrisome rice, then random, amoral natural selection ought to have created an entire planet filled with plants hostile to the best interests of humanity! After all, an inedible plant would have a higher chance of survival, n’est pas?

Could it be that only a perfect genetic designer could have created such a perfect, healthy, nutritious and satisfying plant such as rice?

That conclusion may not be very scientific but it seems to have at least as much common-sense about it as the theory currently on the books.

New Episcopal Bishop of Hawaii Ordained In Honolulu

2007-03-10T16:09:00.000-10:00

Newly Ordained Bishop of Hawaii Bob Fitzpatrick
I was honored to receive an invitation to attend the ordination of Robert Fitzpatrick as the 11th Episcopal Bishop of the Hawaiian Islands and the 6th Bishop of Hawaii. I have enjoyed collegial relations with outgoing Bishop Richard Chang for the past several years and looked forward to today's service at St. Andrews Cathedral less than a block from the State Capitol Building in downtown Honolulu.

General overview of the Cathedral
There was the usual Episcopal finery and straight-from-the-Book-of-Common-Prayer liturgy. As always the music was superb and uplifting (especially a magnificent setting for the Veni Creator Spiritus by cathedral Music Director Arlan Sunnarborg set for Hawaiian Chant, Hula [Kahiko] Latin and English and double choir).

Emeritus Bishops Chang & Browning
Bishop Chang's predecessor, The right Reverend Edmond L. Browning, who also served as the Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church offered the sermon and the Chief Consecrator for the service was The Most Reverent Katharine Jefferts Schori, the current (and first woman) Presiding Bishop and Primate of the Episcopal Church (USA).

Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori
There is lots of national and international conflict these days over the ordination of an openly and sexually-active gay Episcopal Bishop several years ago. Until the denomination affirms a position that bans such ordinations in the future it is in effective limbo/probation as regards its formal ties to the world Anglican Communion.

Today's focus, however, was on the passing of spiritual, pastoral and apostolic authority to the next Bishop of Hawaii. It was done with just the right touch of Anglican-formal, Hawaiian-informal style and grace.

Words of Consecration from Bishop Jefferts Schori
As Bishop Emeritus Browning pointed out, every new Bishop inherits a crisis or controversy not of their own making . . . and their has never been a time when a new Bishop took office without some measure of conflict at work in the church. Such is the nature of a church that is "in the world" yet "not of the world" (as Jesus put it). There will always be tension and friction between the here and now and the not-yet.

Presentation of Bishop Fitzpatrick to the Congregation
In any case, God was worshiped and glorified today in Honolulu and this is, in and of itself, no small thing.

The following pictures capture some of the occasion:

Program Cover

The Beautiful Stained Glass

Hula dancers from Iolani (private Episcopal school)
perform after the service

Bishop Fitzpatrick ( & wife, Bea) enjoy traditional Chinese Lion Dance

And yes, there was cake along with lots of aloha!

Bird of Paradise Quoted at Powerline

2007-03-08T13:32:00.000-10:00

I have been too busy living life in "real time" to have done much blogging lately. I have, however, managed to enter a few comments in various threads in various places. Paul Mirengoff at Powerline apparently felt one of my comments worthy of quoting at length today in a post entitled, "Has the Wren Chapel cross been 'saved'".

The issue concerns William & Mary's university chapel and current school President Gene Nichol who, by personal fiat, had the chapel cross removed because it apparently caused him (and others unnamed) offense. After 17,000 alumni signed an internet petition against the removal and the loss of a $12 million donation that was withdrawn it has now been decided to return the cross to the chapel (but not in the front) and put it behind glass.

Unbelievable but true.

In any case, I am taking being quoted by one of the Powerline guys as a compliment.

Bill Maher & Anne Coulter--A Marriage Not Made In Heaven!

2007-03-03T12:51:00.000-10:00

Imagine a new TV talk show featuring Hosts Anne Coulter (representing the right-wing nut-jobs) and Bill Maher (representing the left-wing nut-jobs). Each of them thinks that they are witty, funny and "with-it." The are both self-styled entertainers who like to exaggerate and say shocking things just to keep up their image of self-importance in the vacuous world of media punditry.

After the past two days it seems that they might well deserve each other.

Click on picture to enlarge

I suggest that ABC, NBC and CBS bid on this new venture. It can't possibly cost them as much lost revenue as bidding for the Olympic Games coverage and it would certainly give them something to report on their evening news broadcasts.

You know the old saying, "If you don't like the news you get, make up the news you want."

As for Maher and Coulter, shame on them both!

McCain/Lieberman Presidential Ticket Announced--They'll Run As Independents

2007-03-03T11:57:00.001-10:00

McCain/Lieberman

While walking my dog, Daisy, this morning, I entertained an unusual fantasy. I considered for a moment the political free-fall of John McCain in his quest for the Republican nomination for the office of President. I considered the political marginalization of Joe Liebermann, a Democrat who ran for the office of Vice President alongside Al Gore in 2000 and who, in 2006, was forced to run as an “Independent” to retain his Senate seat after being tossed aside by members of his own party in favor of someone else.

Neither man meets my criteria for a perfect candidate to the Presidency or Vice Presidency of the United States. Yet I admire them both and believe that they have much to offer us as a nation currently more divided than we ought to be . . . at least among our representative leaders in national government.

As I pondered this matter I wondered what would happen if these two men joined together in running together as Independents for the office of President (John McCain) and Vice President (Joe Lieberman) of the United States.

Would I endorse such a candidacy? No, I don’t think I would.

Would I consider such a candidacy to be a good thing for the United States and the upcoming Presidential campaign? Yes . . . most certainly, Yes!

To my mind it would force the major candidates towards the middle ground. If done well it could raise the level of conversation to a higher level of respect and substance than we have seen in many years.

Could a McCain/Lieberman ticket win? Once again my answer is, No, I don’t think it would even come close. But I believe that they could draw far more votes away from both parties than Ross Perot did in 1992. And certainly more than Nader in 2000.

I’d still like to see it happen! What about you?

What follows is my fantasy as to what their public announcement to run together might look like. In my fantasy the paragraphs would be spoken responsively between the two men.

I invite you to read what I have written and consider whether you can imagine these two men sharing these words together before a national audience.

McCain/Lieberman Announce Presidential Campaign
Location: South steps of the U. S. Capitol Building

We are two United States Senators, John McCain, a Republican, and Joe Lieberman, a Democrat, who are divided by our party affiliation but united in our love for the United States of America.

We believe that the best interests of America have for too long been sacrificed to the agendas of those who represent the far-right and the far-left of our nation’s politics.

We believe that the flames of this national division, between progressives and conservatives have been fanned and fueled by those whose personal agendas benefit from keeping Americans as divided and as angry as each other as possible.

We believe that this way of doing politics is not in our best interests either as a nation or as individual citizens with a common stake in our common future.

While the two of us differ on many issues we find that we are agreed on those issues that are most important to us all.

Together we affirm the need for our nation to be safe and secure.

Together we affirm the need for our nation to be economically strong.

Together we affirm the need for our federal government to be fiscally responsible.

Together we affirm the need for our nation to be more selfless in its response to the needs of our weakest and most vulnerable citizens.

Together we affirm the need for our nation to rediscover and to reaffirm that we are indeed, “One people, under God, indivisible.” That the high ideals of "freedom and justice for all" transcend any one political party and that it vital that we find common ground and unshakable unity in our support and affirmation of these central truths that lie behind the goodness of our national character.

Together we will try to bridge the vast political chasm that has opened up, effectively separating us as individuals and as elected representatives serving in Washington on your behalf.

Together we pledge to speak openly and honestly and respectfully with each other concerning the issues that confront us all.

Together we pledge to affirm and articulate our common ground on these matters as well as to publicly share our debate on those issues on which we differ.

Together we pledge to work with other members of the United States Congress in discovering ways that we can begin to speak with one another across political and party lines.

Together we hope to bring our national leaders together in common cause to find solutions to our pressing needs for national security, fiscal responsibility, economic stability and the needs of the poorest and most vulnerable among us.

Together we hope to re-instill a common faith in our national virtues of goodness, self-sacrifice, respect and tolerance.

Together we believe that we can find a better way to move forward into the future as a great nation and leader among the nations of the world.

Together we believe that we can best do this when we are together and united in the things that matter the most rather than being so divided that we are no longer willing to even talk with each other.

(Lieberman) As a Democrat I have often stood with many Republicans in my support of a strong national defense and in a firm and determined stand in support of our troops and their mission in Iraq, Afghanistan and in many other places throughout the world.

(McCain) As a Republican I have often reached across the aisle to find common ground with Democrats as we have tried to discern common cause on campaign finance reform and to create a less hostile environment for the legislative process of government to take place.

Together, with the wisdom of hindsight, we admit that we have at times erred in both our personal and private lives.

But, together, we affirm to you that our efforts have always been motivated by a desire to serve all the people of the United States and not just those of one social or political special interest group.

Together we profess to be men who value honor and character.

Together we promise to stand before you, the people of the United States, as friends . . . of each other . . . and as friends of yours.

Together we will seek out a “middle way” that will bring us closer together as a nation rather than drive us farther apart.

We believe that we can achieve all this and more as a nation. But only if we work and stand together.

Our national motto, E Pluribus Unum affirms that, “Out of many” we are "One."

Or, as Abraham Lincoln once put it, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”

So, today as we announce our candidacy for the offices of President and Vice-President of the United States, we stand together. And we invite you, each of you and all of you, to stand together alongisde us in the coming campaign.

God Bless America!

"Lost Tomb of Jesus?" Experts Say, "No Way!"

2007-02-28T23:16:00.000-10:00

Film Director James Cameron made a pretty good movie when he filmed "Titanic." He even recreated the interior of that great and tragic ship down to the last authentic detail giving the movie an eerie authenticity. But even the best of Hollywood craftsmanship and the magic of digital imagery could not fool us into believing that we were watching actual events taking place on the real Titanic. Even the guy falling onto the ship's propeller was a fake. It was all an illusion of reality . . . nothing more than an expensive and incredibly profitable piece of historical fiction.

Now, James Cameron is trying once again to recreate another time and place for us on film. This time, however, Cameron is not only trying to resurrect that same eerie authenticity but he is trying to really fool us into believing that the fictional and illusory magic of cinematic imagination is more real than the reality it attempts to recreate!

Cameron's latest project, titled "The Lost Tomb of Jesus," is an attempt to demonstrate and prove that some ossuaries (bone boxes) found over 25 years ago in a tomb outside of Jerusalem contained that remains of Jesus, his mother, Mary, his wife, Mary Magdalene, their son, Judah and the disciple Matthew.

The film's producers have concocted a statistical theory of "coincidence" that they say effectively validates their claims beyond a reasonable doubt.

Unfortunately for Cameron (and the Discovery Channel that is planning to air the film) their hyped-up claims have been torpedoed by the top archaeologists in Israel, including the man who did the original excavation back in 1980.

William Dever, who the Washington Post describes as one "who has been excavating ancient sites in Israel for 50 years and is widely considered the dean of biblical archaeology among U.S. scholars" has responded to Cameron by saying,

I'm not a Christian. I'm not a believer. I don't have a dog in this fight . . .I've known about these ossuaries for many years and so have many other archaeologists, and none of us thought it was much of a story, because these are rather common Jewish names from that period," he said. "It's a publicity stunt, and it will make these guys very rich, and it will upset millions of innocent people because they don't know enough to separate fact from fiction.

The Washington Post added that,

Similar assessments came yesterday from two Israeli scholars, Amos Kloner, who originally excavated the tomb, and Joe Zias, former curator of archaeology at the Israeli Antiquities Authority. Kloner told the Jerusalem Post that the documentary is "nonsense." Zias described it in an e-mail to The Washington Post as a "hyped up film which is intellectually and scientifically dishonest."

"The Lost Tomb of Jesus" comes in the wake of such pseudo-historical projects as "The DaVinci Code," the "Gospel of Judas" and the "Secret Lives of Jesus." I can only conclude that Cameron (in the tradition of P.T. Barnum) seems to be betting that people are gullible enough to believe anything . . . especially something that, in this case, appears to undermine the legitimacy of the world's largest and most historically researched and validated religious faith.

Apart from all the archaeological bickering over this matter there is this one, simple, fatal flaw in the whole of Cameron's thesis:

How in the name of rational and sane humanity could a contemporary and universal belief in Jesus' death accompanied by a story of an empty tomb and his resurrection from the dead have produced thousands of new believers given that Jesus was still alive, married, having children, hanging out with at least one of his disciples (who was running around telling everyone that Jesus had died, risen and ascended back into heaven as the Son of God) and then later died and was buried along with everyone else in a local tomb with his bones later placed in an ossuary with his name carved into it. As though no one would have noticed this???

James Cameron seems to think so.

My conclusion to all of this is that either Cameron is doing a very shabby job of deceiving us or he is doing a very good job of deceiving himself.

Either way, Jesus and the followers who proclaimed him to be Lord and Savior are, through this production, being publicly accused of being charlatans and frauds and the written records of the New Testament Gospels and Letters to be lies on top of lies . . .

While my Lord and my God can take this foolishness with heavenly laughter, I take this whole affair as just one more personal insult to my own faith, integrity, character and intelligence.

James Cameron is a despicable man and those who are using this inexcusable fabrication to make a profit (including the Discovery Channel) are worth every bit of scorn that honest and decent folks can bring to bear against them.

No doubt Cameron already has an advance on his 30 pieces of silver.

I suppose someone might ask the question, "Does any of this cast any doubts about the fundamental truth of my Christian faith?"

In reply I offer the following headline: "James Cameron & the Discovery Channel Cause the Collapse of Christianity."

As they say in Hollywood, "Get real!"

Amazing Grace--An Amazing Movie

2007-02-25T16:08:00.000-10:00

We've all heard the hymn "Amazing Grace." We've heard it in church, or at a Military Tattoo at the Edinburgh Festival or perhaps from Judy Collins (a recording that stayed on the singles charts for an amazing 67 weeks back in 1970-72).

We have all heard, no doubt, John Newton, the former slave-trade ship captain who became a Christian minister, who wrote the hymn.

But this new movie, "Amazing Grace," gives us an insight into how the second half of the 18th century produced a ripple of outrage over the slave trade that, in a span of some 50 years, rose to an overwhelming wave of social disgust over slavery itself . . . at least in Britain. The movie accomplishes this by telling the story of William Wilberforce, a rising star in British politics who became fixated on the subject of abolishing the slave trade and who refused to be worn down by defeat after defeat by the British Parliament.

Slavery did not end with the vote of the British Parliament depicted at the end of this wonderful historical re-creation movie. Only the slave TRADE was abolished. It took until 1833 for slavery itself to be abolished, a bill that passed the parliament several weeks after Wilberforce died. Before his death he was given notice that the bill had been approved for a 3rd reading by the parliament, virtually assuring its passage. Wilberforce died with the satisfaction of knowing that his life's goal had been achieved, at least in law.

Unfortunately, slavery continues to be practiced today, especially in Africa and Asia. History can be changed by articulate, persuasive, gifted respected and imperfect men and women such as Wilberforce, Gandhi, MLK jr.

In this movie it was a nice bonus to experience Wilberforce's eccentric quirkiness (his love of animals leading to his founding the RSPCA), his personal friendship with William Pitt the Younger (still the youngest Prime Minister in British history, I believe), the influence of John Newton (who was a very popular pastor of a large congregation and a well-respected preacher as well as the writer of the hymn) and the interplay of world historical events (the American and French revolutions and their aftermaths).The dirty, smoggy, crowded and smelly depiction of 18th century London helps to explain why men and women of means chose to spend as much time as possible in their country homes/estates.

The close-cropped hair of men (and, less displayed, of women) and the wearing of wigs (due to the infestations of lice, etc) is part of the down-to-earth reality of the times that lifts this movie out of the mere ordinary to the level of worth seeing

Where Spielberg's "Amistad" graphically depicted the horror of the slave trade, "Amazing Grace" graphically shows how perseverance, historical timing, moral rightness and political maneuvering can, on rare occasions, make a world of difference.

Wilberforce may have been a moralistic prig . . . but he was right when the rest of the British Empire . . . and the rest of the world along with it . . . was wrong.

His burial in Westminster Abbey next to William Pitt the Younger was no simple nod to sentimentality, either. It was an intentional mark of the respect and esteem in which he was held by rich and poor alike at the time of his death.

The movie is nicely acted, the costuming is ocassionally stunning, and the scenery is fittingly wet, rainy, drab and even dirty. The screenplay bogs down during the lengthy artifice of Wilberforce's narration of events to his future wife and I lost track of whether the scenes were cutting to past or present and what year what was happening. There are no great chase scenes but there is far more action and drama than in anything written by Jane Austen or any given Bronte you might chose.

All in all, a decent movie that is far better than its limited distribution might suggest.

I encourage everyone to see this movie if for no other reason than to grasp the social and political context of the struggle to end the slave trade and slavery itself. The film quitely and wordlessly presents the reality that the moral foundation for ending slavery came primarily from Christian (including Quaker) leaders. The opposition to abolition by other Christian leaders in high authority, however, is not noted. Knowing that the Bishop of Exeter (for example) received over 1,000 pounds compensation for his slaves when slavery was at last abolished outright in 1833 shows how difficult it was for people like Wilberforce to get such legislation passed.

We can all be grateful for the vision and dogged determination of people like William Wilberforce. Slavery was, and still is, a great evil. The fact that more of us know this now than knew it then should make us even more resolute to bring a final and universal end to this brutal assualt on our common humanity.

A good source for current issues regarding slavery today can be found at the appropriately-named http://www.wilberforcecentral.org/ and review the partners and coalition sites. Take anyone you can find to see this movie. Then do something besides hum the hymn.

You can also find the full history and evolution of the text of the hymn "Amazing Grace" at Wikipedia.

How'd You Like to Live on "Mutlilated Lizard Street"? You Might If You Live in Hawaii

2007-02-25T14:42:00.000-10:00

An updated edition of Rich Budnick's "Hawaiian Street Names: The Complete Guide to O'ahu Street Names Updated" was recently reviewed in the Honolulu Advertiser.

On Oahu/Honolulu Country, at least, all new street names must be given Hawaiian names.

As a result some otherwise-sounding beautiful names have been found to mean something quite different than was perhaps intended.

Take 'Aikanaka Place in 'Ewa Beach. In Hawaiian it means "To eat human flesh!" Perhaps Hannibal Lector is looking for a new neighborhood near to some good local eateries!

Or 'Ilipilo Street in Kailua: "Smelly Skin."

How about Komai'a Drive in Manoa: "Dragging bananas."

Na'ipalaoa Road in Wai'anae? "Whale Genitals" of course!

Na'opala Lane in Kalihi? "Rubbish." Popoi'a Road in Kailua? "Fish Rot." Kaluamo'o Street, again in Kailua? "Lizard Pit."

Hepa Street in Wipahu means "Idiot, Imbecile or Moron." Nalulu Place in Wai'alae 'Iki means "
A Dull Headache" (anyone want to spend their honeymoon on Nalulu Place?).

Then again there is always Hanakealoha Place in Palolo Valley: "Lovemaking" or nearby Pa'ale'a Street: "Pleasure-loving" or Ho'oha'i Street in Pearl City: "To Flirt" or Poli'ala Street in Waimanalo: "Fragrant Breast."

Then again, almost any of these would be preferred to having to live on Kauhako Street in Hawai'i Kai: "The Dragged Large Intestines."

By the way, if the name "Mutilated Lizard" captures your fancy you might just want to move to Kuli'ou'ou. The street you are looking for is called Mo'omuku Place.

Some folks have clearly been having a lot of fun at the expense of us non-Hawaiian speakers! But it all goes to show that a good sense of humor can be found everywhere . . . even hidden in unexpected places.

And when I visit San Francisco's Chinatown (where I once worked for two summers in a Christian Daycamping program) I always pause to pay my respect to may favorite street name anywhere: Wong Way!

Thomas Mapfumo & the Blacks Unlimited

2007-02-24T01:26:00.000-10:00

My wonderful wife and I just returned from a concert performance by Thomas Mafumo & the Blacks Unlimited at the local JC.

I can’t say that I had heard of Mapfumo before today but I have already come to admire him as a person and as a musician

Mapfumo is from Zimbabwe and grew up there when it was still white-ruled Rhodesia. During the ‘60s he began performing in popular music venues imitating the British/American styles of Elvis, etc.

By the ‘70s he had created his own musical synthesis combining various musical styles around a form of music indigenous to his Shona tribal culture. Central to this music was the spiritual, circular melodies created by the mdima, more commonly known as a finger harp.

The black Marxist rebels seeking the overthrow of the Ian Smith government captured his vision of freedom. The guerrilla forces were called chimurenga (Shona for “struggle”) and Mapfumo began calling his new sound “chimurenga music.”

According to notes on his life found at www.afropop.org,
Mapfumo had become a national hero by singing theme songs for a revolution, his deeper message was really about culture, not politics.
At tonight’s concert, Mapfumo introduced his music in this way:
My music is about freedom. That is all I have to say about my music. It is about freedom.
Having seen the demise of one oppressor and having celebrated the liberation of his country, Mapfumo found himself, by the late 1990s, becoming increasingly critical of the rapidly totalitarian rule of Mugabe. At times his songs were banned outright by the government and, after the opposition party unexpectedly did well in a national election the government began harassing Mapfumo, including filing false criminal charges against him.

In 2000, Mapfumo took his family to Oregon where he now lives in a sort of self-imposed exile. He occasionally returns to Zimbabwe to perform for his many fans. His songs have

Decried alcoholism, AIDS (several of his original band members died from this), domestic violence and people’s devotion to foreign things—all prices that Mapfumo felt Zimbabweans had paid for abandoning their ancient culture.

Since Mugabe, whose iron-clad rule has completely destroyed Zimbabwe’s economy and social structure, is celebrating his birthday this week with a lavish party tomorrow (Saturday) I was curious what, if anything, Mapfumo might have to say about him.

What he said was this:
This song is about dictators . . . . like Robert Mugabe of my own country, Zimbabwe . . . when a man like that dies . . . the world rejoices.
He also introduced another song by saying,
This song is about our youth. There are too many wars these days . . . what if young people refused to go? (applause)
By the end of the evening I had concluded that Mapfumo’s music, with its complex, melodic rhythms (that brought dozens of the audience to the front of the theater dancing) could best be described as “liberation music.”

Even more, as I pondered the themes of peace, of justice, of freedom or health and wholeness that transcended the music that tried, futilely, to contain and tame them, I decided that an even better description might be “Kingdom of Heaven” music . . . music in the footsteps of Isaiah, Amos and Jesus.

I found it easy to relate Mapfumo’s focus on freedom to our own national passion of every possible idealized version of this concept . . . including the musical voices from our own turmoil of the 1960s freedom marches and anti-war demonstrations.

No matter how elusive, impossible or impractical the attainment of this vision of freedom might be there is nonetheless something of God in it: The lion lying down with the lamb; Jesus’ parables of the Kingdom of God; John’s revelation of the New Jerusalem coming down from heaven.

I sought in vain to find some parallel with Muslim culture . . . an expression within Islamic culture in music or poetry or simply a visionary dream of peace, and joy, and freedom for all. I have no doubt that I will be thinking and rethinking this matter in the days to come.

As Mapfumo ended the concert he thanked the audience for their enthusiastic support and then added,
God bless you.
These simple words, which caught me completely by surprise, seemed to validate my take on his music. True freedom is not provided by ideology or liberation movements. The liberation from one oppressor (White Rhodesia) has turned out to be little more than a slow transition from one form of oppression to another. True freedom will never be attained through the efforts of sinful humanity. Freedom is, above all else, a gift from God that is, as our own nation’s founding documents explain, presented to us all as an endowment . . . an unalienable right for all.

Yes, tonight’s concert was about freedom. And the words, “God bless you,” pointed to the only place we can ultimately turn to find it.

Samples of his music can be found here, here and here.

Cuban Doctors Defecting From Venezuela

2007-02-20T16:35:00.000-10:00

Captain Ed has some things to say about this story

It seems that Cuban doctors have been volunteering to help out with Cuba's friend and ally, Chavez, in helping out his tottering health system. The doctors get paid far more than they would in Cuba but their expenses eat up most of what they earn.

So . . . surprise, surprise . . . instead of quitting and going back to Cuba over 500 Cuban health-care workers and their dependents have chosen to defect instead, no doubt hoping to find some way to enter the United States.

This is where I start to lose consciousness . . .

It seems that many of these doctors are in limbo, hanging out in neighboring Colombia or applying for asylum at the U.S. Embassy in Caracas while the United States carefully investigates each one to make sure that they are not spies for the Cuban government.

While I applaud our government's caution in this matter is seems almost silly to the point of absurdity to compare how we are treating these educated and skilled men and women (who are defecting from a totalitarian government we have been at odds with for nearly 50 years) with the millions of undocumented, unscreened, illegal folks from Mexico and other points south of the border who seem to be crossing back and forth across our border each day with hardly a "how-do-you-do."

A GAO report released early in 2005 estimated that 29% of all inmates in state and federal prisons were illegals. This means that 4% of our population (12 million illegals out of a total population of 300 million) accounts for well over one-fourth of our criminal prison population. That disproportionate statistic should provide at least some impetus to target this particular demographic for special attention!

Having said this, I would like to see our government take at least the same measure of caution in checking the vitae of 12 million illegals as they are taking with these Cuban defectors.

Otherwise, in all fairness, they should simply transport the Cuban doctors to the Mexican side of the U.S. border and tell them to just walk in and make themselves at home along with everyone else.

Cunard's QE 2 & QM 2 To Rendezous In Sydney Harbor

2007-02-20T02:34:00.000-10:00

The two largest world-cruising passenger liners will greet each other in Sydney Harbor, Australia, on Tuesday. It will be reminiscent of the time back in 1942 when the Queen Elizabeth (1) and Queen Mary (1) met in the same harbor when they were serving as troop ships.

I have my own personal memory of these ships having seen the two "2s" dock in Honolulu just about a 30-minute drive from where I live in Hawaii.

QE 2 & QM 2 in NY 2004

More unique, however, I had the experience of seeing the original "1s" docked end to end in Southampton in 1966 during a British dock workers strike that had both ships empty and going nowhere fast.

My parents and I had just completed our own passage across the Atlantic on the SS Rotterdam, a new ship back then. Because the two Cunard liners were plying only the North Atlantic in those days, the Rotterdam, which also cruised in the Pacific, was considered to be the largest world-cruise ship at that time.

As we entered Southampton Harbour every passenger was on deck to enjoy the excitement of docking and disembarking. The bonus was moving at slow, slow docking speed past the two majestic and mammoth grand dames of passenger liners . . . one after the other.

As a 15-year old I remember being suitably impressed and overwhelmed by their size. Next to them the Rotterdam seemed to be a mere toy as we craned our necks upward at the great stacks and soaring superstructures of the original Queen Elizabeth I and Queen Mary I.

At the slow speed we were moving it seemed like it took nearly forever to sail past those two ships. It was a wonderful and memorable way to arrive in England for the first time.

I have no doubt that the folks in Sydney, Australia, will be enjoying their own sense of awe and wonder with the latest reincarnations of the the golden days of luxury passenger liners.

Utah Skier Survives Avalanche In Style

2007-02-16T23:08:00.000-10:00

It's not a very big avalanche but it is enough to fear the worst for the Utah ski-boarder who gets swallowed up by it. Watch the video here and see what happens. Cool! In more ways than one!

St. Valentine's Day

2007-02-14T16:47:00.000-10:00

St. Valentine's Day has an uncertain origin. The Saint whose day was once set by the Roman Catholic Church as February 14 also has an uncertain origin.As usual, Wikipedia gives as good a summary of the subject as any place you can go.

Sometime, however, it doesn't really matter why a holiday exists (take a look at Kwazaa or Mother's Day for examples of "holidays" created out of thin air) and Valentine's Day is one of those times.

It's simply nice, for whatever reason, to be encouraged (even by social peer pressure and the greeting card & flower industries!) to say "I love you" to someone special.

My wife packed up Valentine's Day gift boxes for our two daughters (#1 & #2) who live in the Mainland diaspora and one for our still-at-home-but-not-for-long Daughter #3. I added a single pink rose for her when I picked her up from school today.

Hopefully, the card I sent to my mother will arrive on time along with a small orchid plant.

Fortunately, I also remembered to show some appreciation to my wonderful wife. We'll have dinner out, too, but the gifts we may exchange with each other will remain fully confidential!

At our church preschool, children also exchanged gifts and held class parties that included at least some of the children's parents. As a Christian preschool it never hurts to encourage the idea of "love" . . . even when it comes in the form of a cupcake or small bag of Hershey's Kisses!

All love comes from God, of course, and our human efforts are just a case of imitation being the highest form of flattery.

According to the Christian faith, God sent his own personal "Valentine" to us in the person of God the Son, who "emptied himself" and "became flesh" and "dwelt among us" for a brief span of 33 years.

I John adds these words, "This is love: not that we loved God but that God loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins."

The Christian Bible also explains why God did this: "So that whoever believes in him (Jesus) should not perish but have everlasting life."

As St. Paul put it, "If God is for us then who is against us?"

I'll put my faith in God. How about you?

Happy St. Valentine's Day!

Barak Obama vs. John Howard--No Contest

2007-02-13T08:58:00.000-10:00

Here's my read on the recent verbal exchange between Australian Prime Minister John Howard and U.S. Senator Barak Obama. It's as though the little boy in the famous "Mean Joe Green" Coca-Cola commercial chewed Green out for being a wimp and added that he could do a better job of it on the field. B.O. would then try to get Howard's "jersey" while keeping hthe Coke for himself, too!

Howard has taken many political bruises and beatings for his firm and uncompromising stand against Islamist terrorism. Obama has, to date, suffered nothing for his positions on anything. The one man holds the highest elected national office in Australia. The other . . . well . . . should know better. The two men are not even in the same league.

If you don't recognize the photo then click on it and watch what has been voted one of the best (if not THE best) television commercials of all time.

Obama Declares for Presidency--Outdoes Biden in Glib "Mis-speak"

2007-02-12T11:56:00.000-10:00

When Senator Joseph Biden announced his candidacy for President last week he immediately wrapped his mouth around his foot by delcaring that Senator Barak Obama was,
the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy.
Since declaring his own entry into the Presidential race on Saturday, "Mr. Clean" Obama has bitten his own foot twice.

The first was at Iowa State University, on Sunday, when Obama averred that,
We ended up launching a war that should have never been authorized and should have never been waged--and to which we now have spent $400 billion and have seen over 3,000 lives of the bravest young Americans wasted.
Later, in an interview, he apologized for the remark by saying,
The sacrifices (troops) are making are unbelievable. I meant to say that those sacrifices have not been honored by the same attention to strategy and diplomacy needed to be successful in Iraq.
Call me a skeptic, but I find it hard to believe that Obama accidentally and inadvertently dropped 20 or more words of clarification from his comments at Iowa State.

When Obama uttered the word "wasted" he meant it as a rhetorical device to stir up the support of the anti-war crowd that had gathered to hear him speak. As he spoke that word he was not thinking of the bravery of our troops or of their sacrifice. He was not thinking of the mission that they are committed to achieving in Iraq or the value of their sacrifice to our nation or to their families.
Whether intentionally or not Obama slipped into demagoguery as he played to the Iowa crowd. A person aspiring to the office of President of the United States should not allow him/herself to become that undisciplined.

A slip such as this does not disqualify Obama from his candidacy, of course, we all have found ourselves using a word that we later wished we had not spoken. It is, in part, a human mistake and should be forgiven.

Insofar as it allows us a small glimpse into the inner-workings of his deeper convictions, however, it does not bode well for the good Senator from Illinois. Mel Gibson allowed some of his inner demons to emerge during a DUI arrest last year and was widely condemned for what he said.

Obama, from what I can tell, was not drunk at the time he supposedly "mis-spoke" at Iowa State.

A second, but more telling moment came with Obama's response to a unfortunate and inappropriate international personal slam from Australian Prime Minister John Howard, who (in the midst of his own heated national election campaign) stated,
If I were running al-Qaida in Iraq, I would put a circle around March 2008 and be praying as many times as possible for a victory, not only for Obama but also for the Democrats.
(Memo to Mr. Howard, You are a great friend of the United States and a bold and courageous ally in our united fight against Islamist terrorism. Having said this, however, please keep out of our domestic politics. How would you like it if an American President made public comments attacking your re-election ambitions, huh?)

Obama's retort to Howard was as follows,
I would . . . note that we have close to 140,000 troops in Iraq, and my understanding is Mr Howard has deployed 1400, so if he is ... to fight the good fight in Iraq, I would suggest that he calls up another 20,000 Australians and sends them to Iraq.

"Otherwise it's just a bunch of empty rhetoric.
I'd say that it is a grave sin of an over-inflated ego for Obama to think himself either equal or superior to John Howard as a political heavyweight.

Obama somehow diminished himself with this reply both by his failure to demonstrate proper respect for a head of state (and an strong American ally at that) and by his gratuitous dismissal of the political, military, financial and personal sacrifices of Australia and Australians in their own struggle with this vast and complex matter.

If Barak Obama hopes to become President of the United States someday, he would be best advised to begin speaking as though he was already the President of the United States . . . at least insofar as is necessary for him to prevent the undermining of the same diplomatic and respectful dialogues with other nations (both friend and foe) he so passionately claims to advocate.

There may well be a true and noble greatness in Barak Obama. But it is clear that even at his best (and this past weekend must be viewed as a sincere attempt for him to be his best) he is still more than a little "rough around the edges" and in need of some grinding and polishing before he will be truly ready for prime time.

Offering Prayer at the Hawaii State Capitol

2007-02-09T13:51:00.000-10:00

Marilyn Lee, my local Hawaii State Representative to the Hawaii legislature called a few weeks ago to ask if I would be willing to open today's session of the House of Representatives with an invocation. I have done this at least twice before for the House and twice for the State Senate. My schedule was clear and so I said, "Yes."

I arrived a little early and was greeted by Anne, Marilyn's office manager, who gave me a ti-leaf/kukui nut lei. After being escorted onto the House floor I was introduced by House Speaker Calvin Sey.

After a few words of greeting I then offered the following prayer (Note that the Hawaii State Motto is "Ua mau ke ea o ka aina i ka pono" a quotation taken from King Kamehameha III which translates as, "The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness" and, yes, the King was a Christian):
Almighty God, it has been truly said that “the life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness.” We who are gathered here today are fortunate to live in a land that no doubt holds a favored place in your creation. We are blessed but the “life of the land” is suffering from hearts that have grown cold and minds that have become distracted by the lure of power, the temptation of privilege and the preoccupation with money that accompanies access to the vast wealth of a state treasury

By your Holy Spirit, enter this place and restore your righteousness to those who seek to act wisely and well on behalf of the people of Hawaii. Open their ears to the cries of the homeless; open their noses to the reek of pollution that spills into our coastal waters; open their eyes to the sprawl and congestion of our freeways and open spaces; open their hands to touch the hands of the children the elderly, the infirm, the abused, the vulnerable and the disabled who are reaching out to them in hope this day.

Bring these servants to their knees in a common humility as they respond to the needs of a land in need of your righteousness. Save them from the temptation to think more highly of themselves than they ought to think.

Free them from any inclination to serve their own needs and, instead, encourage them to put the needs of others above themselves.

And place in them the wisdom to do only what is necessary for them to accomplish and not anything more or less.

In this alone, there is righteousness.

Bless every good and useful bill that passes through this chamber. And doom the rest. For, in the end, you are the judge of all things.

I give thanks to you for these who serve on my behalf. May this be a good day . . . for each of them . . . and for the people of Hawaii.

I ask this prayer in Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Earlier I had informally spoken with one of the greeting staff at the Hawaii Senate Chamber on the other side of the Capitol building. This man, who was also a Christian, shared with me the prayer he would ask if he were to be asked to give the invocation. He then put his hand on my shoulder and prayed for me, asking that the Lord would use my words to bring unity in common purpose to the legislators.

James 5:16 says that, "The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective." I trust that this was, in some small way, true for me today.

British Security Forces Led by Keystone Kops?

2007-02-08T22:33:00.000-10:00

Gee, they are getting good press all the time: British security teams break up one terrorist plot after another, saving the airport, saving power plants, saving the necks of Muslim soldiers in the British Army. Or so it seems.

Lately, it is the accumulation of bumbling, bogus and befuddling busts that has been getting my attention.

How can we forget the young man who police shot dead on an underground carriage when they mistakenly took him for a fugitive terrorist.

Then there were the two brothers last July whose apartment was attacked in broad daylight with one of the men being shot by police as they supposedly attempted to break up a terrorist ring. Both men were quickly released after the police could not provide any evidence to a court that they were guilty of anything.

Now, after making international headlines over having supposedly breaking up another terror plot to kidnap and behead a British soldier who happens to be a Muslim, it appears that once again the noose is unravelling before our very eyes.

Today, two of the nine Muslim men arrested as suspects in the beheading plot were told by a judge to go back home. It seems that, after seven days in police custody, the men had only been interrogated for two hours and that the police had never even questioned them about reason for which they had been arrested.
The same judge has given police only 72 more hourse to present evidence against the other seven men or else she will probably let them go, too!

And to think that these arrests were described by the British Home Office as being part of a "major counterterrorism operation" with the arrests representing "the foothills of a very major investigation."

Is British intelligence making "mountains out of molehills?"

What next, cream pies and fire hoses?

U.S. Jet Pilot's Video Released in Accidental Death of British Soldier In Iraq

2007-02-07T14:51:00.000-10:00

The incident occurred back on March 28, 2003 but the video was just released yesterday. It shows the two American pilots debating whether to attack the British tank force or not. They could see the orange roof markers that indicated that the force were allies in the coalition. The higher-ups that they turned to for orders, however, assured them that,
That is an affirm. You are well clear of friendlies.
In the end, having been told there were no friendlies in the area, they decided that the orange markings were rocket lauchers.

At least one of the U.S. A-10 jets opened fire, killing the British convoy's leader.

"Moments later," according to today's AP story, "they learn that there are friendly forces in the are and that one person is dead another is wounded."

Pilot 1: "I'm going to be sick."
Pilot 2: "Ah f---."
Pilot 1: "Did you hear?"
Pilot 2: "Yeah, this sucks."
Pilot 1: "We're in jail, dude."

I have one thought on this matter:

What a shame that, in the midst of combat, the second thought to enter the mind of a warrior after a incident like this (the first is horror), is that of being prosecuted and going to jail.

On the plus side, it shows that the members of our military are well-trained in the responsibility they have to act wisely and well in all circumstances. We possess perhaps one of the most ethically and legally-grounded militaries in world history.

On the negative side, however, it means that in the heat of battle a moment of hesitation or uncertainty could lead to the failure of a mission or the endangerment of other American or allied troops.

Although I have never served in the military or visited a war-zone I cannot imagine that every situation can be as clear-cut as a Dürer etching. The "fog of war" leaves a lot to the training and intuitive response of the warriors involved. If we cannot trust these men and women with this responsibility and give them our 100% support and backing when they err then we have no right to send them into such a situation in the first place.

Court-Martial Hearing for Watada Underway--Now Declared Mistrial

2007-02-07T14:39:00.000-10:00

To my surprise it appears that the court-martial hearing for Lt. Ehren Watada will last only two or three days.

Watada is charged with refusing to obey an order to deploy to Iraq with his unit. Watada has publicly defended his actions by claiming that the order to deploy was illegal because the war itself is immoral and illegal.

One reason his hearing is expected to be so short is that his primary defense (the moral or legal status of the war) was held to be inadmissible.

Today's story also stated that a plea-bargain that would have sent Watada to prison for 18 months was turned down by the defense.

My guess is that it might have been a good thing to have agreed to that plea-bargain insofar as I cannot imagine him receiving a sentence of less than two years. He could be sentenced to as much as 4-years in prison with a dishonorable discharge.

I have previously offered my opinion on the case in a post, Lt. Ehren Watada's Court Martial.

UPDATE: The hearing has been declared a mistrial on the grounds that Watada may did not intend to admit guilt when he signed a document refusing to obey the order to deploy. Assuming the trial reconvenes in mid-March as the Judge has recommended, it may be that Watada will be allowed to present his reasons for believing the order to deploy was illegal and that he was morally and legally obligated to disobey that order.

It would then need to be determined as to whether the U.S. Military's presence in Iraq was legal or not in order to either vidicate or convict Watada. I cannot imagine such a matter to be within the pervue of a military court-martial hearing. How this will be resolved within the military justice system I have no idea.

Even so, as one who supports the role of conscience in all areas of our lives I am glad that this aspect of Watada's defense will be given a hearing. I believe it is his right. Regardless, of course, he should still be held responsible for his decision.

Strange Story of the Day: In Palestine Blood Is Thicker Than . . . Well . . . Blood

2007-02-07T14:29:00.000-10:00

This little AP story appeared today complete with a photo taken by Khalil Hamra:
Palestinian Hamada al-Ottol, 19, below, and his brother Tahseen, 22, recover in their family house in Jabaliya refugee camp, northern Gaza Strip. The brothers were both badly woulnded in a recent clash between Hamas and Fatah. They fought on opposite sides.
I hope their family "cease fire agreement" lasts longer than the others Hamas and Fatah have made lately.

Final Verdict on Television News Shows--Crosswords Never Lie

2007-02-07T14:10:00.000-10:00

Woe to the crossword editor who puts in an answer that is incorrect or misleading!

I mention this after doing this morning's "New York Times Crossword" edited by my personal games hero, Will Shortz.

Today's clue for 26-Down was, "More and more of news shows nowadays."

The answer left me ROFL:
"Fluff."
A good reminder as to why I have not watched a network evening news show in 15 years!

Thank you, Will Shortz, for bringing the truth about TV news programming into the mainstream!

Dungy Witnesses to the Christian Faith as Colts Win Super Bowl XLI

2007-02-04T17:49:00.000-10:00

I don't know if I can remember his exact words . . . but Tony Dungy, holding the Vince Lombardi Trophy on national TV as the Head Coach of the Super Bowl-winning Indianapolis Colts said something like the following,

We (he and Bear's Head Coach Lovie Smith) are both Christians . . . and I am proud to say that we won this trophy the Lord's way.

Whatever the exact words were I had the sense that, had the Chicago Bears won the game, Coach Smith would have said much the same thing.

As a Christian Pastor I did not view this as a cheap attempt to get a plug in for Jesus. There was something far more substantial in what Dungy was trying to tell the American Super Bowl audience.

Dungy was saying that the Christian virtues of humility, self-sacrifice, putting others ahead of yourself, forgiveness, mercy, love and striving for excellence in all things for God's glory can make for a winning and successful life.

Dungy and Smith both coach like Christians and, whether their players are Christians or not, expect them all to live up to the highest standards and values that the Christian faith represents.

Both men are gracious, polite, selfless and always deflecting credit for their successes to either God, the players and other coaches on their teams or both. They are "class acts" by all accounts. They are men who their players look up to. They are role models for the youth who idolize their teams and they are men who make the cities of Chicago and Indianapolis seem like good and decent places to live.

As part of a pre-Super Bowl promotion, both men, and members of their teams, compiled a website to witness their common faith in Jesus Christ to the world. The site can be found at beyond the ultimate.org.

I encourage you to visit the site and read what these two coaches and others who play and coach for the Bears and Colts have to say about their faith in God and the Lordship of Jesus Christ in their lives.

Today we all saw a great football game played by two great teams lead by two great Head Coaches. As both Smith and Dungy will tell you, however, what makes them great is not their success on the field but, rather, the saving love of God in their lives.

Whether you are a Head Coach of an NFL team or not, you can share that same measure of greatness with these two Super Bowl coaches. Check out their site and consider what they have to say.

Oh, and by the way, congratulations to the Indianapolis Colts on their 29-17 victory in Super Bowl XLI.

Super Bowl XLI Prediction

2007-02-03T13:16:00.000-10:00

Here it is for posterity:

Indianapolis will defeat Chicago by a score of 23-14.

The first half will be very close with a good chance of the score being tied or Chicago leading by four points.

Vinateri will kick three field goals that will be the margin of victory for the Colts . . . and vindication for his being traded away by New England.

Of course, I could be wrong!

"Laughter Yoga"--Celebrating the "Lighter" Side of Life

2007-02-03T12:17:00.000-10:00

A small article in today's Honolulu Advertiser caught my eye this morning. The headline read, Free Session of Laughter Yoga .
After giving the where and when the article went on to explain,
Laughter Yoga is a worldwide social movement that aims to promote peace through laughter, based on the philosophy of "acting happy."
Now this is one philosophy I already subscribe to . . . along with subscribing to the Joyful Noiseletter, the monthly publication of the Fellowship of Merry Christians!

Humor and health go well together. Even in politics I will generally be inclined to support those who "do not think more highly of themselves than they ought to think." Those who take themselves too seriously are usually people who ought to be avoided at all costs . . . and should never . . . ever . . . be given too much power over anything important.

Our greatest presidents, for example, almost always will also show up on the list of "most humble" (such as Washington) or "best use of humor" (such as Abe Lincoln, Ronald Reagan or JFK).

The more laughter in the world, the better.

I hear very little humor from the Islamist leaders who foment so much hatred, death and destruction around the world. This in and of itself should be a red flag for their beliefs. I want none of it! The same holds true for unsmiling Christians or anyone else who has forgotten how to laugh.

So, I'm going to give a big, fat, hearty, wholesome two thumbs up for "Laughter Yoga." Perhaps if we could get President Ahmadinajad and President Bush to sit on the floor, do a little stretching on a yoga mat and then say "Ho Ho Ha Ha Ha" before breaking into spontaneous laughter, the world might just begin to look both a little safer and a little saner.

British Teacher "Sacked" for "Upsetting" Students With a Fact They Didn't Want To Hear

2007-02-03T12:04:00.000-10:00

According to BBC News,

Andrew McLuskey was sacked from Bayliss Court Secondary School in Slough after a Religious Education lesson discussing the pros and cons of religion.

Pupils at the predominantly Muslim school claimed Mr McLuskey said most suicide bombers were Muslim.

The article concludes with these surreal paragraphs:

"I think I should've been given the chance to respond to the allegations and not in effect be ejected from a job without the chance to defend myself."

The school authorities denied they were being heavy-handed and said their first priority was pupils' welfare.

"I don't think it's important what I think," said the school's deputy head teacher Ray Hinds.

"It's what the pupils think that were in the classroom at the time. And they were very upset."

So that's the new standard for employment in an English school these days . . . if the students don't like what a teacher says . . . if they say that they are upset . . . the teacher gets fired . . . whether the school administrators feel it is fair or right or not.

Gee, if I ran my house that way when my three daughters were growing up I would have been "sacked" myself!

I guess, in England at least, it is now only safe to teach the facts that the students want to hear.

Although I am not a big fan of predictive Biblical prophecy I must confess that the words and warning of 2 Timothy 4:3-4 seem to have come to pass: For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.
Sigh.

Promotion to Commander

2007-02-02T17:07:00.000-10:00

My good friend, Mark, was promoted to the rank of Navy Commander yesterday morning. Here are a few photos of his promotion ceremony that took place at Pearl Harbor. The lovely lady is his wife, Cathy. My contribution to the event was to photoshop a promotion poster for Russel Crowe's movie "Master & Commander" and insert Mark's picture and name. Cathy used the photo for the cake at the reception.

Mark is now off to DC where he will continue to serve with distinction. We are blessed as a nation to have such men in our military service as Mark.

U.S. Military Saving Money Through Beer Sponsors?

2007-02-02T16:31:00.000-10:00

While at a command post at Pearl Harbor yesterday I spotted this banner hanging on the wall. I asked the office Commander if I could take a photo of it. He said, "Sure, why not!"

I then asked him if the Navy's budget was so tight that they had to resort to seeking sponsorship funds from Budweiser? He laughed and said that someone must have gotten a good deal on the banner from somewhere.

Soon, I expect we will be seeing that familiar Nike "swoosh" on our military uniforms!

Super Bowl Quote of the Day

2007-02-02T08:45:00.000-10:00

From Troy Gorda of Springfield, Ill (a corporate travel agent) who is looking forward to Sunday's Super Bowl:It's like Christmas or Thanksgiving without all the hassles of family.
LOL & Amen!

My Thoughts On Global Warming and Human Responsibility

2007-02-01T18:37:00.000-10:00

1. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change presented its preliminary report today and concluded that global warming is "very likely" (meaning 90% sure) caused by human activity.

2. Here is my uneducated opinion.

3. Global warming is real.

4. No one really knows whether this is a long-term trend (leading to glacial melt and loss of all ice caps....which would be catastrophic) or a short-term trend that may slow or reverse itself as a minor variation in global climate stability.

5. It is preposterous to say that the earth has a stable climate . . . research shows that the earth has always fluctuated in surface temperature, weather patterns, etc....sometimes with great variations lasting for many centuries (ice ages, etc.) or smaller variations lasting for shorter periods of time.

6. Until recent history (the past 200 years . . . from the beginning of the industrial revolution) the impact on human activity on climate change would have been zero. Yet climate change occurred even without human interference.

7. Are there other natural circumstances besides human activity that could explain the current warming trend? Yes. Sun activity, tectonic plate movement, volcanic activity, shifting of the earth's magnetic poles, etc.

8. Do I believe that human activity is responsible for 90% of the worlds temperature increase? No. But I am 100% sure that it is a contributing factor . . . perhaps even a significant factor. But nowhere near the 90% factor cited in the report.

9. Do I believe that we should attempt to reduce the pollution and atmospheric emissions that contribute to this warming trend? Yes. But not precipitously. As with pollution in the LA basin some things take time. Our nation's release of "global warming-related) pollutants have declined as a percentage of our total national energy and industrial production. Auto emissions have also declined per automobile. This is good. But does not remove the problem. It only keeps it from being worse than it already is.

10. Rapidly developing nations such as Russia, China and India not account for the largest increase in global-warming emissions. These countries, and others like them, have not yet introduced the high-technology and expensive additions to the production output that would in any way reduce the "bad" emissions to anything remotely comparable to that of the United States.

11. As one writer to the BBC put it, " Who is going to tell a billion people that they can't have air-conditioning or an automobile?"

12. Should we, either as Christians or simply as concerned and responsible citizens of the world, do anything in response to this? Yes, of course. From the simple acts of recycling, purchasing more fuel-efficient cars, using our air-conditioners less frequently and at lower settings, eating foods that require less processing and transportation and the like will collectively help in this problem.

13. As Christians, we should be concerned about our "stewardship" responsibilities in a world of God's own making. After all, we believe that "the earth is the Lord's and all that is therein." In judgment we believe that we will be held accountable for our behavior in this matter as well as in other moral and ethical areas of our lives.

14. Is there any scientific model, either supporting the Intergovernmental report or contradicting it, that offers any hope or practical solution to this matter of global warming? None that I have seen. Whether this warming trend is caused by human or natural causes there is little evidence that very much can be done about it in a comprehensive way. The world, the number of human beings and the growth of industrial consumption is simply too vast to bring under any sort of practical control.

15. What then, will happen? Who knows. Ocean levels may continue to rise, flooding low-lying coastal areas, islets and atolls. Entire nations may disappear (Micronesia and Kiribas come to mind). The reduction of global ice caps and the glacial ice of Greenland could produce accelerated warming or actually slow it down according to the various models I have seen. Areas currently arable may become deserts and desert areas may become arable. Major cities in certain climes may become too expensive to maintain large populations. Populations may actually shift globally to accommodate the climate changes. Shipping routes may even change if trans-polar shipping become feasible. Some national economies may suffer terribly. Others may actually benefit. The balance of world resources may also shift, affecting national alliances and balances of trade and economic markets. Political power will also shift along with the climate.

16. Is all this going to happen in our lifetimes? Some of it, yes. But, if the warming continues at the present pace it will be our children's children's children who will probably have to face the reality of major change in lifestyles and geo-political-economic transitions.

17. Is what you are saying true? Or have you just made it all up? Not being an expert I am simply expressing my current understanding of the situation based on what I have read. What this means, of course, is that I have mostly made it all up. On the other hand, for all their intellectual fire-power, so has the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Facts About the "Surge" In US Troops for Iraq

2007-01-29T20:14:00.000-10:00

I just read a wonderful post at Mudville Gazette that gives a blow-by-blow breakdown on what the planned surge in US troops "is" and "isn't."

One interesting fact is that no troops are going to Iraq that were not already scheduled to go to Iraq. It's just that some are going a little ahead of time to increase the numbers rather than simply replace them.

A second interesting fact is that 70% of the civilian deaths in Iraq in recent months have been Shi'ites . . . giving the lie that al-Sadr's Mahdi Militia is the source of most of the mayhem. Sunni Baathists and al-Qaeda folks seem to be the main murders of late. This makes Iran's "bi-partisan" support of Sunni as wella s Shia "insurgents" particularly noteworthy.

The only place in Iraq that will experience any sort of significant "surge" is, of course, Baghdad. This increase in American troops in the city was made possible by changes in the political situation in the Iraqi government . . . especially as regards President al-Maliki.

Not only are the additional American troops being allowed into Baghdad but they are being allied with Iraqi security forces that are now fully trained and, in some cases, battle-tested to do most of the dirty work themselves. As President Bush said in his State of the Union Speech, the "rules of engagement" have also been changed. Until now, there has been no targeted crackdown on militia members or their leadership permitted by Maliki.

Now, however, it appears that it is the strong desire of both Shia and Sunni leaders to end this inter-sectarian violence once and for all. Each side is particulary concerned about whether they can trust the Iraq security forces and police to actually protect them from terrorist attacks and murder squads.

With the US forces working alongside the Iraqi forces the level of confidence in this matter seems to have grown considerably.

For an update on the security cooperation being hammered out between Sunni, Shi'ite and Kurdish leaders (a very positive development) read the news here.

Terrorist Bombing In Israel & Insight Into Fatah

2007-01-29T13:43:00.000-10:00

You may have heard of terrorist bombing in Eilat, Israel, the other day. (You can view a video of the explosion here) Three Israelis were killed along with the suicide bomber. It was the first successful suicide bombing in Israel in nine months.

Several terrorist groups claimed joint credit for the attack, prominant among them was the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade. This group is, of course, the terrorist arm of the Fatah political party that began as Yasser Arafat's PLO and is now headed by the so-called "moderate" President Abbas of the Palestinian Authority. Fatah is the group that, unlike Hamas, we are expected to trust. Israel has recently agreed to release 100 million dollars in tax collections to Fatah and another recent agreement will be providing ammunition, etc. to Fatah as well . . . supposedly to help them counter-balance the military power of Hamas.

An internet release from Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade not only claims responsitibility for the attack but imiplies (in translation) that this may be just the first of many such attacks as they seek to "start the implementation of the support of the Palestinian people."

Even more important to note is the statement that the attack

. . . also comes in response to Tendes Aqsa Mosque, stressing that continued resistance until the liberation of the entire territory of Palestine, and to repel the occupiers irreversibly. (emphasis added)

What this means, of course, is that the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade (and Fatah) plan on keeping up this type of "resistance" until Israel no longer exists at all.

Keep this in mind the next time you hear talks of "peace" and "two-state solutions" from representatives of Fatah.

Personally, I believe that actions speak louder than words. In this case, at least, the words and the actions mutually support each other in a frightening way. It is, as usual, a way that does not bode well for any prospects of peace in Palestine any time soon.

Serena Triumphs at Aussie Open

2007-01-26T19:30:00.000-10:00

I had thought that Venus and Serena Williams had gotten tired of tennis and the exhausting and body-breaking discipline that is required to maintain top form. With multiple and recurring injuries I had expected them to sort of hang up their rackets and focus their energy in their multi-million dollar investment portfolios.

But Serena proved me wrong today when she completely obliterated the new #1 ranked player in women's tennis in the final of the Australian Open Tennis Tournament.

Maria Sharapova never had a chance as she wilted before the blazing serves and ground strokes of a resurrected Serena Williams. The final score was 6-1 6-1. The match took only 1 hour and 3 minutes to complete.

Serena spent last season on the sidelines with a serious knee injury and was ranked only #81 coming into the Australian Grand Slam event.

She proved to the world that her body and mind are still capable of playing tennis at the highest level.

When the Williams sisters were at their peak, they were like powerful locomotives crushing everyone else who dared to get in their way.

Today, one of those trains came roaring back with a vengeance!

Women's tennis will be the better for it!

Welcome back, Serena!

US to "Kill or Capture" Iran's Operatives In Iraq

2007-01-26T19:02:00.000-10:00

I have had long conversations on BlogCritics lately with Iranians who say there is no evidence that Iran wishes to destablize Iraq. It is, they say, in Iran's best interests to have a secure and stable Iraq as a neighbor.

This logic, of course, flies in the face of every objective reality that exisits. I have come to suspect that some of the folks that propogate these "talking points" are trained operatives working on the Iranian government's behalf . . . possibly formally and officially.

In any case, the United States has instituted a new set of "rules of engagement" for the agents and military personnel they have been shuffling in and out of Iraq since the coalition invation in 2003. The new policy rejects the old "catch and release" program and replaces it with "kill or capture."

There is danger and risk in this approach, of course. The danger is that American troops might kill an Irani civilian with a legitimate reason to be in Iraq. The risk is that Iran could respond by redoubling its mischief inside of Iraq with a more agressive targeting of US troops and personnel for abduction or murder.

The capture and murder of four US soldiers in the Shiite city of Karbala on January 20 may, in fact, be related in some way or another.
A senior Iraqi military official said the sophistication of the attack led him to believe it was the work of Iranian intelligence agents in conjunction with Iraq's Shiite Mahdi Army militia, which Iran funds, arms and trains.
Iran will not back down without a fight. It will push the level of violence and mayhem to the very limits. Indeed, it is in the interests of the most radical Irani leaders (including President Ahmadinajad) for the United States to attack inside of Iran.

Iran's role in Iraq is first and foremost to disrupt and destroy the effectiveness of any peace and security that might arise from the current democratic government; second, to stick its finger in the eye of the United States (which it is doing quite nicely . . . see the recent Democrat electoral victory as evidence of their success); and, three, to provoke the United States into attacking Iran directly.

I am convinced that we must not attack Iran unless provoked beyond anything our national interests can bear.

Should Iran choose to flood Iraq and Afghanistan with trained sabateurs, the entire region could crumble very quickly into total chaos . . . including similar scenarios in Palestine and Lebanon.

Response to this would be a difficult assualt on Tehran to cut out the heart of the Iranian revolutionary leadership within Iran itself.

I would rather see Iran stuffed into its box and shut tight than to give it an excuse to pour across international borders like a plague in full daylight.

This is one time when it would be best not to shout out, "Bring it on!"

A Collection of All the Mean-Spirited, Rude, Insulting and Demeaning Comments that President Bush Has Made About His Critics and Political Opponents

2007-01-25T19:52:00.000-10:00

To my knowledge this list of rude and obnoxious personal comments made by President Bush is exhaustive. If anyone can cite any others to add to my list I would be grateful.

The list begins here . . . . .

. . . . . and ends here.

Has there ever been a President who has been vilified more persistently by so many prominent people over such an extended period of time than President George W. Bush?

Has there ever been a President who, in return, so stubbornly refused to speak disparagingly of others?

Orchid -- "Moonlight Lady"

2007-01-25T19:45:00.000-10:00

A close friend is moving away from Hawaii to live in the Washington D.C. area. He was kind enough to give this beautiful orchid to my family. According to the label it is a Sophrolaeliocattleya (slc) Ken Dream "Moonlight Lady." It is a unusual hybrid for which I could only find four matching "hits" on the internet.

Only one internet site showed a photo of a plant that appears quite different from mine. I suppose that hybrids can differ somewhat from plant to plant but the difference between these two is striking. If someone can tell me anything more specific about this orchid I would be grateful.

Aloha.

Hawaiian Petroglyphs--Kona

2007-01-17T21:07:00.000-10:00

There is very little remaining of pre-contact Hawaiian culture. Captain Cook's "discovery" of the Sandwich Islands (as he called them) in 1778 gave him the opportunity to preserve some remarkable artifacts that would otherwise have been destroyed and lost.

Fortunately, more substantial remnants of this ancient culture, such as gravesites (which are rarely disturbed nowadays), heiau ("temple" sites), fishponds, trails and petroglyphs, remain to be seen. The largest collections of Hawaiian petroglyphs (rock carvings) are to be found on the Big Island of Hawaii.

A nice summary article on Big Island petroglyphs can be found here.

One site visited most often by tourists is Puako, located and preserved within the golf course adjacent to King's Village and the Mauna Lani resort. These are by far the easiest to access and are well worth a visit.

On a recent trip to the North Kona coast I explored several of the more interesting petroglyph areas.

The new Koloko-Honokohau National Historic Park just north of Kailua-Kona has several petroglyphs. Here is a photo of one of them:

Further up the Kona Coast is the Malama Petroglyph Trail. It takes about 20 minutes walking through scrub forest before you come to this amazing collection of over 3000 petroglyphs.

As with all Hawaiian petroglyphs no one knows exactly why most of them were carved. Here are photos of some of the Malama Trail petroglyphs (note that those outlined in white have been "vandalized" by photographers who tried to highlight the carving with paint or chalk). Click on any photo to enlarge it:

Some carvings (not these) are clearly post-European contact. Others, representing earlier styles, could date back many hundreds of years. Not even the native Hawaiians living today can help with these ancient artifacts.

They do, however, provide a wonderful opportunity to let one's imagination work overtime!

Syria & Israel Reach Peace Settlement?--Unofficially, That Is

2007-01-15T20:43:00.000-10:00

Is the leopard changing its spots?

UPDATE: Haaretz is now reporting that the Israeli government is calling this peace-talk-with-Syria report a "bluff." The Israeli Prime Minister says that the first he heard of these "talks" was when he read it in the paper yesterday. Hmmm.

Haaretz has a mindblowing article in tomorrow's paper revealing details of informal, unofficial peace negotiations using "middlemen" between Syria & Israel.

Under the terms of the negotiations,

--An agreement of principles will be signed between the two countries, and following the fulfillment of all commitments, a peace agreement will be signed.

--As part of the agreement on principles, Israel will withdraw from the Golan Heights to the lines of 4 June, 1967. The timetable for the withdrawal remained open: Syria demanded the pullout be carried out over a five-year period, while Israel asked for the withdrawal to be spread out over 15 years.

--At the buffer zone, along Lake Kinneret, a park will be set up for joint use by Israelis and Syrians. The park will cover a significant portion of the Golan Heights. Israelis will be free to access the park and their presence will not be dependent on Syrian approval.

--Israel will retain control over the use of the waters of the Jordan River and Lake Kinneret.

--The border area will be demilitarized along a 1:4 ratio (in terms of territory) in Israel's favor.

--According to the terms, Syria will also agree to end its support for Hezbollah and Hamas and will distance itself from Iran.
The process broke down when Syria stated that it wanted to move into "official" negotiations with a "ministry level" official representing Israel. Israel, apparently, declined and no known meetings have taken place since.

If true, this will require a major reassessment of the potential and competing political dynamics bubbling up in the Middle East.

It also makes the recommendation of the American Iraq Work Group, who encouraged a negotiating role for Syria in Iraq, more credible.

It would also mean that President Bush, who according to the article was regularly briefed on these conversations between Israel and Syria, has been walking a tightrope of hidden diplomacy himself during the past months and years.

The big unanswered question is, of course, can Syria be trusted?

Can a leopard change its spots?

No doubt Israel is asking the same question.

There were many who did not trust Egypt's Sadat when he negotiated a peace settlement with Israel over the Sinai. But that settlement has held for many years.

On a negative side, I see no assurance that Syria would forsake any of its direct (other than via Hezbollah) meddling in Lebanon.

I will withold all judgment until this story begins to "fill out" with more information.

It may yet play out that the Arab/Sunni world will join against the common enemy they see in Iran. They know that a nuclear-armed Iran would be unstoppable without the counter-balance of Israel and the United States.

Wouldn't that be an interesting alliance!

HT: lgf

Dr. King Remembered

2007-01-15T20:07:00.000-10:00

I don't have anything profound to say today. I just want to remember the vision and passion that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. held for God's "unalienable" gift of justice and freedom for all people.

A quote from his "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" is sufficient (for the moment) to remember the legacy he left us . . . as well as the responsibility we bear to carry on the fight:
I am in Birmingham because injustice is here. Just as the eighth century prophets left their little villages and carried their "thus saith the Lord" far beyond the boundaries of their home towns; and just as the Apostle Paul left his little village of Tarsus and carried the gospel of Jesus Christ to practically every hamlet and city of the Graeco-Roman world, I too am compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond my particular home town. Like Paul, I must constantly respond to the Macedonian call for aid.
Much has been accomplished. Even so, injustice still awaits a prophet who will confront it with a "thus saith the Lord" and bring it to naught.

HT: Powerline

PCUSA Moderator Joan Gray Visits MPC in Hawaii

2007-01-14T16:14:00.000-10:00

The Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church USA, the Rev. Joan Gray, visited Mililani Presbyterian Church today and shared a greeting and a sermon with our congregation during our morning worship.

We were pleased to have her and husband Bill as our guests. She was gracious enough to stay after for Q & A with our combined adult Sunday School classes.

The Grays were in Hawaii to share in the worship dedication (on Saturday) of the new facilities of First Presbyterian Church of Honolulu which has recently relocated to the Ko'olau Golf Club in Kaneohe.

There she received some encouraging words from fellow worship participant,

Robert Schuller (of Crystal Cathedral fame)

and watched the children play in several tons of "snow" trucked in for the occasion.

Have you ever seen a Hawaiian snowman before!

This morning she posed with myself, husband Bill and the Rev. Art Sundstrom , pastor of the Chevy Chase Presbyterian Church in Maryland who just happened to drop in for worship while on a personal trip to Hawaii of his own.

I enjoyed the time I was able to spend with the Grays. I was impressed by their acceptance of our informal hospitality.

Joan is, first and foremost, a pastor . . . but not a pastor with a big-steeple, multi-staffed church personality.

In my mind she is the right person to meet with and encourage our denomination during her two-year term as our Moderator (she was elected last June 2006 at General Assembly meeting in Birmingham, Alabama. She and Bill are from Atlanta, Georgia).

Joan is someone who cares for the church and will remind us of our need to love one another as Christ loved us, even though we may differ on many other matters. She believes that Jesus' first question in judgment will not be, "Did you stand your ground on your understanding of scripture?" but "Did you love one another?"

That, I think, is the right question to ask. A question worth asking ourselves every day.

Give Boxer a Break on Condoleezza Rice Comment

2007-01-12T17:32:00.000-10:00

I have listened to what Senator Barbara Boxer said in hearings today in dialogue with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and I don't think it was a "slam" at all.

Here is the central quote:
"Who pays the price? I'm not going to pay a personal price. My kids are too old and my grandchild is too young," Boxer said. "You're not going to pay a particular price, as I understand it, with an immediate family. So who pays the price? The American military and their families."
When I heard this I thought that it was a little insensitive to bring up the personal marriage/family situation of Dr. Rice but the Secretary invited this level of conversation by making reference to her personal conversations and meetings with military personnel and their families.

My own read on what Sen. Boxer meant could be summarized in this way:
Neither of us have any members of our immediate families who are affected by the deployment policies of the Bush administration. I suspect that you would not be quite so sure of yourself if you did. This new deployment strategy will take a big toll on the individuals and families involved and I am not sure that this new and increased call to sacrifice is justified or has been seriously considered in this decision.
That's what I believe Boxer (who I do not admire, support or otherwise celebrate) meant to say.

I hate it when the left nit-picks the right and I also hate it when the right nit-picks the left. This is one of those latter situations.

I do, however, stand by my criticism of Rep. Neil Ambercrombie when he suggested the possibility that Secretary of State Rice was incompetent and inneffective and was tolerated by the Bush administration only because she was black and a woman.

That, I believe, did cross a line into hypocracy . . . seeing as if a Republican has said the same thing Ambercrombie would have been the first to condemn it.

In any case, I'll let the Secretary of State have the final word on the matter:
I guess that means I don't have kids. Was that the purpose of that?" Rice said. "Well, at the time I just found it a bit confusing frankly. But in retrospect, gee, I thought single women had come further than that. That the only question is are you making good decisions because you have kids?

The News Spin On Bush's Speech

2007-01-10T20:40:00.000-10:00

CNN News online headlines
Bush admits mistakes, deploys more troops

&

Situation intolerable, apologies for mistakes

FoxNews online headlines

President Sets Course for 'Different' Victory in Iraq

&

Bush Says Failure in IraqWould Be Disaster for U.S.

There is so much spin here that I am getting dizzy!

I guess a good news editor plays to his/her demographic.

CNN = Democrat

FoxNews = Republican

I report . . . You decide!

Bush Announces Detailed Military Strategy To the Enemy...Why?

2007-01-10T19:31:00.000-10:00

Much of President Bush's speech this evening (full text here) offered a detailed look at the planned strategy of how the troops involved in the "surge deployment" will be used in Baghdad. Bush listed the numbers of American troops involved (20,000), the number of Iraqi brigades that will participate (and, more or less, where), and how they plan to clear out the city, district by district, of terrorists, insurgents and armed militia.

Am I missing something or is this the first time in history that a military commander announced the details of his battle plan to the enemy before the battle?

What gives with this? I can see al-Qaeda, Sunni insurgents and Muqtada al-Sadr taking notes on the speech, glancing through their appointment calendars and planning how to elude, evade and counter the proposed sweep of Baghdad in the coming months.

20,000 new troops to Baghdad and 4,000 to Anbar Province.

Is it possible that Bush offered a feignt (or an outright lie) tonight? Is it possible that the real battle will be fought first in Anbar with an increased force significantly larger than the 4,000 new troops mentioned?

A quick sweep through Anbar from the south to the north culminating in a sealing off of the Syrian border and a sweep back to the southeast to join the rest of the force in the Baghdad operation could wipe out most of al-Qaeda's presence, seal off their supply route and corner them in Baghdad where they would have no place to run except into Shia territory (where they would be warmly greeted, I'm sure).

Or, will the strategy in Baghdad be more of an encircling of power centers such as Sadr City and the forced confiscation of arms?

Or will the strategy in Baghdad be a pincer movement driving the Sunni Insurgents directly into the path of Shi'ite insurgents being driving into them from the opposite direction . . . and then letting them kill off each other while the American and Iraqi troops stand by and watch?

I'm fantasizing, of course, but I just cannot bring myself to believe that Bush, for the sake of national unity, or simply telling it like it is, would telegraph our counter-insurgency strategy for Baghdad in such detail as he did tonight.

There has got to be something in this that is designed to throw the "bad guys" off-guard rather than to put them "on-guard."

At least that's the way I look at it.

Anyone else have any ideas on this?

Bush Threatens to Attack Inside Iran If Necessary

2007-01-10T19:11:00.000-10:00

Lost in the confusion of arcane statistics, detailed military strategies, mind-numbing internal Iraqi political maneuverings and a sullen, unemotional delivery, President Bush, in his speech this evening, actually found time to let Iran (& Syria) know that he will attack their meddling even if it means crossing borders into their countries to blow things up.

Few, if any, commentators have noted this telling paragraph that showed up just a little more than half-way through the speech (full text at Drudge). Here is the key paragraph:
Succeeding in Iraq also requires defending its territorial integrity – and stabilizing the region in the face of the extremist challenge. This begins with addressing Iran and Syria. These two regimes are allowing terrorists and insurgents to use their territory to move in and out of Iraq. Iran is providing material support for attacks on American troops. We will disrupt the attacks on our forces. We will interrupt the flow of support from Iran and Syria. And we will seek out and destroy the networks providing advanced weaponry and training to our enemies in Iraq.
The ever-perceptive Hugh Hewitt also noticed this warning and comments:
Crucially Iran heard a hint of measures beyond the borders of Iran, though in the sort of terms that none can object to. When the president spoke of destroying the networks aiding the terrorists, he meant the Quds Brigades and the other Iranian agents at work in Iraq, and the placement of the paragraph cannot be misunderstood.
I, for one, did not misunderstand the message. I don't believe that Iran and Syria will misunderstand it, either.

US Congressman Neil Abercrombie Suggests Condoleezza Rice "Gets a Pass" Because She's Black

2007-01-09T22:28:00.000-10:00

Why can a liberal US Congressman get away with saying something that had previously cost a conservative talk show host his job as a television commentator?

In late September 2003, while working as a football commentator for ESPN, conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh raised the question as to whether it was possible that Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb was overrated because the media wanted to see a black quarterback succeed.

Limbaugh resigned from his ESPN position three days later under circumstances described by CNN as being, “amid a storm of controversy over his racially charged comments.”

In today’s Honolulu Star-Bulletin Hawaii Congressman Neil Abercrombie (D-HI) is quoted as describing U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as being the most overrated, underperforming individual in executive authority that I have ever seen.”

“She constantly gets a pass. Who knows if the whole question of race and gender come into it, but . . .
What’s the difference between these two comments? The difference is that Limbaugh’s comment created a “storm of controversy over his racially charged comments” and he was force to resign as an ESPN football commentator.

Abercrombie, on the other hand, “gets a pass.”

I wonder why?

A Little Dark Humor from an Iraqi in Baghdad

2007-01-07T20:04:00.000-10:00

Where Date Palms Grow (an Iraqi writing from Baghdad) has a post he calls, "The Dummies Guide to Become an Idiot on International News."

The post shows that you can find humor almost anywhere if you look for it!

Maliki Will Attack Militias--Maybe I Was Right After All

2007-01-06T13:33:00.000-10:00

Last Wednesday I posted on a report from the Strategy Page that American and Iraqi forces were starting to go after al-Sadr's militia. No confirmation of this report ever surfaced. The "72-hour rule" was imposed and now, today, at the last minute, al-Maliki declares that he is going to go after al-Sadr's militias.

I am intrigued that Strategy Page seemed to know this before al-Maliki knew it but nonetheless the announcement, while way overdue, is very welcome.

No doubt, as Captain Ed suggests, the timing is related to a two-hour video consultation between President Bush and Maliki this morning . . . a conversation that no doubt could be summed up as, "fish or cut bait."

I also expect that this will be part of the "new strategy" that Bush will present next week. Right now it looks like the strategy will be, for better or worse, "surge lite."

U.S. Army Tries to Get Dead Soldiers to Re-Up

2007-01-05T22:24:00.000-10:00

It seems as if dying once for your country is not enough, anymore. AP reports that even dead soldiers are being recruited to re-enlist for military service.

The story states that the U.S. Army recently sent out letters to 5,100 former military officers who recently left the service.

Included in this mailing were 75 soldiers who had "left the service" because they had been killed while serving in Iraq or Afghanistan. In addition, letters were sent to 200 soldiers who had "left the service" due to wounds and injuries received while on active duty.

In response to this horrific blunder the Army has issued an apology to the families and has explained that, while their records are kept up-to-date, this mailing used an old list by mistake.

I hope that this incident does not reflect any sense of desparation in meeting the potential need for a "surge" in the number of deployed troops widely expected to be announced by President Bush next week.

New Year's In Hawaii -- Complete With Rays, Sharks & Sunsets

2007-01-04T22:02:00.000-10:00

New Year's Eve Sunset in Hawaii

As we do each year my wonderful wife and I spend New Year's Eve staying at a nearby hotel or resort. We do this (along with hundreds or thousands of other folks who live on Oahu) just to get away from the smoke from fireworks and firecrackers (which are legal in Hawaii).

A "domesticated" Ray at Ihilani Resort

This year we stayed at the Ko Olina Beach Resort. On New Year's Eve we walked a few blocks to the nearby Ihilani Resort to see what the higher-class folks were doing! Here they have pools filled with tropical fish and, as you can see from the pictures, rays and Hammerhead Sharks, too! Both are very creepy in their own, unique ways. The rays were especially interesting in the early evening when they became very active, lifting their heads out of the water to look around.

An Ihilani Hammerhead Shark

Sunset came shortly after our visit to the sharks and rays. It was, as usual, just another beautiful Hawaiian sunset. It was very romantic too. I only took this one photo. The rest of the way back to our own resort I was busy holding hands with my wonderful wife! What a nice way to say "Good-bye" to 2006.

Happy New Year's and Aloha!

Los Angeles Prepares for Mass Evacuation In Response To Doomsday Prediction

2007-01-04T08:36:00.000-10:00

Most people simply laugh at Pat Robertson when he claims prophetic revelations from God. But, by unanimous vote, the Los Angels City Council last night decided that it wasn't going to take any chances.

On Tuesday, Robertson declared that, during a recent prayer retreat, God had told him that there would be a massive terrorist attack on the United States in 2007 that would result in "mass killings" in "major cities" affecting "millions of people." According to Robertson the attack will take place "sometime after September."

"I'm not necessarily saying it's going to be nuclear," he said during his news-and-talk television show "The 700 Club" on the Christian Broadcasting Network. "The Lord didn't say nuclear. But I do believe it will be something like that."

Hickock Williams Wilde, a member of the Los Angeles City Council, said that the Council could not, in good conscience, ignore this potential disaster prediction.

"It could happen," he said. "We have to keep the best interests of the good people of LA as our highest priority. If it means moving them all to Eastern Nevada for a few weeks this coming Fall then that is what we will have to do to keep everybody safe and secure."

Fellow Councilmember, LaShawn Trujillo, added that, "From my perspective, this whole issue revolves around the Bush administration's lies about WMDs and their racist policies against affirmative action and immigration. That's why so many disenfrachised young Muslims are so angry at the United States and why so many of them expect Israel to do something terrible that will point the blame on them instead of revealing the truth about the money-grubbing, oil-craving, air-polluting, Haliburton-loving corrupt-Republican leadership we have had in Washington D.C. for the last six years."

Los Angeles City Council Chair Phillipe Gasçon agreed, adding that, "The Rev. Dr. Robertson has made many such predictions over the years and backed up his claims by saying, 'I have a relatively good track record.'

"Last May Robertson said that God told him storms and possibly a tsunami were to crash into America's coastline in 2006. We didn't get hit with a tsunami, but last spring's heavy rains and flooding in New England seemed to confirm that what the Lord had told him was right on the money. I, for one, was convinced, and the rest of the Council agreed that we shouldn't take any chances."

When asked for a comment, Los Angeles Mayor Barbie Streidant confessed that, while she wasn't convinced that the City Council's decision was the correct one to make, it seemed obvious that Robertson must have been thinking of Los Angeles when he used the phrase "major city."

"There may be other 'major cities' in the country," she said, using her fingers to make quotation marks aroung the words, 'major cities,' "but only LA fits that description in the full sense of that phrase."

Preparations are already being made to create the world's largest parking lot just south of Ely, Nevada. A city spokesperson added that they are also trying to find enough tents and porta-potties to accommodate everyone.

The LA City Transporation Department also issued a statement assuring everyone that, even during the evacuation period, all of the area's freeways would be left open for anyone who might be driving north from Mexico.

Have U.S. & Iraqi Troops Begun Taking Out Al-Sadr's Militia?

2007-01-03T22:17:00.000-10:00

The Strategy Page (which blogger Dean Barnett deems to be "reliable") reports the following:

December 30, 2006: Saddam Hussein was executed by hanging . . .

December 28, 2006: Without much fanfare, much less a press release, the government and Coalition troops have gone to war with Moqtada al Sadrs Mahhi Army militia. Leaders are being arrested or killed. The raids are being carried out with overwhelming speed and force, so that pro-Sadr gunmen have little chance to put up effective resistance . . .

Some American commanders are urging that several additional brigades of U.S. combat troops be brought in for a few months, to back the Iraqi security forces, as the Shia militias are taken down. The most dangerous part of this plan is now, with the well armed and motivated militias still intact. But once the organizations are broken, and arms, records and leaders seized, the problem will be largely a police, not military one.
I don't know what to make of this story, partly because the Strategy Page offers a total of zero links to support it.

If the story is not true then it doesn't matter.

If the story is true, then it matters a great deal.

The de-fanging of al-Sadr is, at this point in Iraq's history, the most important step in attaining any lasting, genuine peace or stability for the new government.

Sadr's Shi'ites represent the best-armed and largest destablizing presence in the current unrest. They also represent some of the more prominant links to Iran's meddling.

With the Shi'ite independent power significantly diminished I would like to think that Sunni insurgents would be encouraged to lay down their arms for two good reasons: 1. They would no longer have to defend themselves or retaliate against the Shi'ite provacateurs, and; 2. They would have hard evidence that the national government is both even-handed in dealing with Shi'ites and Sunnis alike and would feel more inclined than in the past to trust the government with providing the Sunni's with some measure of security.

Since the recent attempt to form a Kurd/Sunni/moderate Shia coalition to counter the current government headed by the Shi'ites and Maliki was nixed by al-Sittani (because he did not want to divide the Shi'ites against one another) I cannot imagine that this assault on al-Sadr's militia could be taking place without Sistani's blessing or clearly-stated neutrality on the matter.

This, too, would show the possibility of rapid change in the current crisis from bad to better (instead of the recent trend from bad to worse).

As always, I am an optimist in this new development. But I will hold off on any genuine enthusiasm until I read some indepemdent confirmation of this still-unprovinanced report.

I Do Not Hate Iran--But I Fear Those Who Rule Iran

2006-12-30T20:19:00.000-10:00

A comment on my post, "Two more reasons to crush Iran with sanctions," wonders why I "have a deep hatred for Iran." My response to this accusation is as follows:

I do not have any feelings of hate for Iran at all. Iran is one of the great nations of the world . . . and one of the most ancient.

The people of Iran, especially those known as Persians, are among the most educated, cultured and literate people anywhere. Their love of music and poetry thrives and web sites can be found filled with their wonderful verse.

In contrast to many other peoples in the Middle East (and beyond to Afghanistan and Pakistan) the Iranian people are forward-looking and, by nature, optimistic.

They welcome the technology and advances in science and medicine that come from the West and are open to borrow and adapt and absorb much more of our culture into their own.

They do not wish to BE a western culture but they are secure and confident enough in their own way of life to pick and choose and revise and rework what they view as useful and good for themselves and their own life as Iranians and/or Persians.

After suffering from the unwelcomed abuse of power by the secular Shah, they longed for greater freedom to express themselves and to have a government that affirmed and reflected their religious (Shia Muslim) faith along with their historic openness and tolerance of other native faiths, including Judaism, Baha'i and Christianity in its various forms.

What they got instead was the revolutionary, fundamentalist theocratic rule of sharia as interpreted by the Ayatollah Khomeini.

The historic culture was replaced by a new and oppressive culture of intolerance, terror and oppression.

Instead of being a nation among nations they became, overnight, a nation against the world . . . a nation ruled by ayatollahs consumed with a vision of turning the world into what they had created in Iran . . . an Islamist Shiite world order, so to speak.

To distract the people from their own oppression they people of Iran were treated to incessant diatribes of America as the "Great Satan" and Israel as the bane of the Muslim world . . . a Zionist malignancy determined to corrupt and destroy the Muslim world.

Enough Iranians bought into this demagoguery to provide the militant muscle needed to keep the dissidents at bay and secure the absolute rule of the mullahs and their political representatives.

The rest of the Iranian people have had to tough things out and get by as best they can under extremely difficult circumstances.

A great gift was given to the mullahs when Saddam Hussein invaded Iran. The war that followed served to galvanize the Iranian people behind a common patriotic cause and provided the veneer or support needed to keep the mullahs in full control of the people.

I do not hate the people of Iran.

I can't even say that I hate those who are using and abusing their power and authority as the current rulers of Iran.

While I don't necessarily "hate" them I do "fear" those who rule over them. After all, their stated goal is to destroy the United States and "wipe" Israel off of the map.

They are pursuing their goals with a sophisticated and reasoned approach that is, by western values, wholy evil; seeking to destroy and undermine the rule of law and stability in every country they can infiltrate.

Their greatest success to date has been their alliance with Syria in destablizing and fragmenting the nation of Lebanon, their creation, funding, training and arming of Hezbollah, their harassment of Israel and their more recent forays into gaining support from disenfranchised Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.

The political power vacuum and chaos in Iraq has also afforded them the opportunity to assert a destablizing presence among a significant (but still small) portion of the majority Shi'ite population in Iraq.

It is in the Iranian mullah's national interests to keep the United States stuck in Iraq for as long as possible, killing as many as possible and in keeping Iraq as weak and disfunctional for as long a possible.

Thus far they have been doing a very good job of this.

This is, of course, against the national interests of virtually everybody else in the world, at least those nations in the so-called "free" world, including the United States.

I do not hate the nation or the people of Iran. I have high respect and love for them.

Those who currently rule over them I fear greatly for many, many reasons. I believe that the world as a whole and the people of Iran in particular would be better off without them in their present positions of power.

Their policies have brought an erosion of the Iranian economy and the suppression and oppression of virtually everything that was good, right and admirable in Iranian culture.

They do not hide the fact that they are at war with the United States. My suggestion is that the United States take them at their word and respond in a way that will weaken their shaky grip on power even more.

Two Captured Iranian Officials Released by Iraq--That'll Show Them!

2006-12-30T13:19:00.000-10:00

Iraq has released two high-level Iranian military leaders who had been captured with an Iraqi Shi'ite militia leader last week and sent them back to Iran.

According to a Washington Post article the two men
. . .were found in possession of detailed weapons lists, documents pertaining to shipments of weapons into Iraq, organizational charts, telephone records and maps, among other sensitive intelligence information.

One of the commanders, identified by officials simply as Chizari, was the third-highest-ranking official of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' al-Quds Brigade, the unit most active in aiding, arming and training groups outside Iran, including Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad, U.S. officials said. The other commander was described as equally significant to Iran's support of foreign militaries but not as high-ranking.
In what has to be the second biggest lie of the day, Sami al-Askari, a member of parliament and a close adviser to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, is quoted as saying,
The story the Americans said is not true. They said these were military men with diplomatic status. But they failed to prove anything.
The biggest lie of the day, however, and the Grand Prize for empty rhetoric belongs to a "U.S. official" who, for obvious reasons, requested anonymity. According to the Post,
Despite their frustration at the release of the Iranians, U.S. officials said a strong message has been sent to Iran that its operatives will be tracked down and that it will be held accountable for its activities in Iraq.

"Iranians have been pushing the envelope in Iraq and elsewhere, and it's a good thing they learn there are consequences," a U.S. official said, on condition of anonymity.
Yep, that'll show those Iranian Ayatollah's a thing or two and set them back on their heels quaking in fear! Sure.

Quotes of the Day

2006-12-30T13:13:00.000-10:00

Quote #1 is from Saddam Hussein on his way to the gallows:
Iraq without me is nothing.
I suppose that means that Iraq is now gone. Sure.

Quote #2 is from the Times of London's obituary for Saddam (which I quote at length here):

(Saddam) also enrolled at Baghdad university's law

uary

faculty and turned up for final examinations in military uniform and carrying a pistol. He was promptly granted a degree . . .

Choice Quotes from Saddam's Obituary in the Times of London

2006-12-29T18:14:00.000-10:00

From the London Times

April 28, 1937 - December 30, 2006

Saddam Hussein was a tyrant whose actions brought down unimaginable catastrophe on Iraq and its peoples. From an early age, he had enjoyed inflicted suffering on those around him and, when he came to positions of political power, those whom he could not force or corrupt into submitting to his will, he maimed, murdered or made to flee . . .

He started two major international wars - one against Iran, the second as a result of aggression against Kuwait - which cost an estimated one million lives. He instituted genocidal campaigns against the Kurds in the north of Iraq and the Marsh Arabs in the south . . .

(A) new American President, George W Bush, determined to find a scapegoat for the Muslim terrorist attacks on the US in September 2001, was in no mood to abide by the niceties of international law. In the determination of President Bush and his cabinet of advisers, Saddam at length met his match, though the internecine aftermath of the campaign that overthrew him gave his conquerors little enough satisfaction . . .

Saddam appeared to have psychopathic tendencies which, combined with the exacerbating circumstances of his absolute power, resulted in the killing of more fellow Muslims, possibly, than Genghis Khan and Tamberlaine had caused between them in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Yet, until he invaded the oil-rich state of Kuwait, he enjoyed the collaboration of many governments abroad - including those in the West - who had given him backing in his unprovoked assault on Iran . . .

A fervent admirer of Hitler on account of the latter's boldness and hatred of Jews, he told his official biographer in 1980 that he wanted Iraqis to think of Nebuchadnezzar every day. "We could march into Palestine and bring all those Jews here in Babylon with their hands tied behind their backs once more", he said . . .

Saddam's schooling began at the age of seven in Tikrit. Such was the lawless environment around him that, on his first day at school, he carried a steel bar in his hand and a loaded revolver in his pocket, the latter bought for him by his relatives. . . .

In 1958, after the overthrow of the monarchy, he was briefly imprisoned for the murder of a teacher, his uncle's Communist opponent in parliamentary elections in Tikrit, and began to develop a reputation as an assassin . . .

Saddam returned to Iraq after the overthrow of Qasim in a military-Baathist coup less than three years later, in February 1963, and was immediately engaged in plots against the Baathists' partners in the new regime. He also enrolled at Baghdad university's law faculty and turned up for final examinations in military uniform and carrying a pistol. He was promptly granted a degree . . .

Saddam Hussein Executed--It's Over

2006-12-29T17:21:00.000-10:00

According to news sources Saddam Hussein was hung by the neck until dead approximately 20 minutes ago, 6:00 am Saturday, Iraqi time and 5:00 pm Hawaii time.

Iraq now has one less albatross hanging around its neck.

"Aloha Ball" for Saddam Hussein

2006-12-29T15:30:00.000-10:00

Here in Hawaii the phrase "Aloha Ball" refers to "game point" in a University of Hawaii volleyball match. It means that the game is just about over and the business of the day is almost complete.

Today is "Aloha Ball" day for Saddam Hussein. His execution is scheduled for this evening Hawaii time (Saturday, Iraq time). The "game" is just about over and the business of removing this tyrannical despot from power and influence is almost complete.

I have expressed my thoughts on the moral and legal rightness in his execution in an earlier post. For those who would like to consider the moral/religious aspects of this matter in a little more detail (especially from a Roman Catholic perspective) should be sure to read what Professor Bainbridge and Captain Ed have to say on the subject.

As I have said before, I will take no pleasure in Saddam's death. But I will shed no tears for him, either. He could have been a great man . . . and a good man for Iraq. But he squandered his potential greatness for lust, greed, wealth and power, all paid for in the blood of hundreds of thousands of his own people and those of Iran and Kuwait as well.

I will weep for what might have been and I will weep for the innocent victims of his twisted and demonic sense personal destiny.

I will also pray that his death will, in some unfathomable way, mark the re-birth of a free, prosperous and peaceful Iraq.

If It's Tuesday It Must Be Sydney . . . or Sidney . . . Whatever . . .

2006-12-29T12:12:00.000-10:00

The title of the movie "The Accidental Tourist" sums up this story quite nicely. Imagine getting on a plane in Germany and expecting to land in Sydney, Australia, only to find yourself in Montana, instead! CNN has the story and it will make you smile (and shiver!).

US & Israel: "Let Fatah Buy Guns, Please!"

2006-12-29T11:17:00.000-10:00

It's as if SNL, National Lampoon, The Onion, Scrappleface and Mad Magazine put their heads together and concocted the story as a state-of-the-art satire. As the sub-title of "The Nose On Your Face" puts it, "News so fake you'll swear it came from the mainstream media."

Yet it is, apparently, a true story!

The United States and Israel have approved the transfer of weapons and ammunition (2,000,000 rounds of ammunition!) from Egypt into Gaza to resupply President Abbas and his Fatah Party with enough fire-power to stand toe-to-toe with Hamas.

In a recent post I suggested that this sort of "Abbas-coddling" by Israel and the United States would label him as a puppet of the West. Surely this cannot help his popularity among the Palestinian people whose hatred of Israel seemingly transcends any other needs or desires they may have.

Perhaps the real purpose of this transaction is to foster a more deadly and violent confrontation between Hamas and Fatah, leading to such destruction that the people will rise up and demand and end to the nonsense, lifting up moderate Palestinian leaders who are willing to recognize Israel as a nation and embrace the "two-state" solution.

Personally, I doubt that this will be the outcome of this decision. More likely we will see more splintering of power in Gaza and the West Bank and even more chaos and anarchy than we have seen in the past.

Iran's funneling of money to "independent Palestinian terrorists" via Hezbollah as a reward for every rocket fired into Israel is a sign of this breakdown in control and authority in the area.

None of this bodes well for either the peace process or, more specifically, for Israel and its people. Fatah's al-Aksa Martyr's Brigade has seemed to enjoy shooting rockets into Israel and sending suicide bombers across the border to kill as many Israeli's as possible. To think that none of these arms will find their way into the hands of such terrorists is beyond naive. And yet Israel's Prime Minister Olmert has given his approval to this deal . . . and the already announced release of $100 million in withheld tax money . . . and the likely release of imprisoned Palestinians . . . and getting nothing in return. Zip.

It has been popular in recent years to glorify the idea that "thinking outside of the box" is a good thing.

But when what is in the box is a monster who wants to rip you to shreds and eat you, I should think that keeping "inside the box" is a far better strategy.

Two More Reasons to Crush Iran With Sanctions

2006-12-28T19:34:00.000-10:00

Well, if we did not already have enough reasons to declare Iran to be a member of the "axis of evil" we now have two more:

1. At least four Iranian military/diplomatic agents have recently been caught in a raid by Iraqi and American troops in Baghdad. At Iran's insistance, the two diplomats were released and immediately returnd to Iran. The other two are still being held. All four were captured in a setting used by terrorists to formulate and carry out murderous attacks on both American troops and Iraqis. Have you read this in your local newspaper lately? I didn't think so.

2. It is become clear that Iran is funneling large sums of money through Syria and into Gaza. The money is being used as an incentive for independent Palestinian terrorists to fire rockets into Israel from Gaza. Thousands of dollars are given as a reward for every rocket that is fired. Bonus money is given if the rockets kill or injure Israelis. Iran, who funds and supports Hizbullah in Lebanon, is now spreading its wings to create as much mischief in the Middle East as possible.

It has already been revealed that new guns and sophisticated "IEDs" manufactured in Iran have been repeatedly found inside of Iraq. These devices are specifically made with the intent of killing American soldiers. They have been successful in this far too many times.

It should be as plain and plain can be that Iran sees itself at war with the United States. It is killing our soldiers in Iraq and doing so with no shame or apology. They are placing the world at-risk by destablizing the country of Lebanon and undermining whatever efforts that are being made to bring peace of any kind to bear on the conflicts between Israel and the Palestinian people.

Iran wants anything but peace in the Middle East. It also wants as many Americans dead as it can get away with.

Other writers have already commented on the irony of Iran demanding the release of their Iraqi diplomats after their unprecedented taking hostage of the entire staff of the United States Embassy in Tehran in 1979 and holding them for 444 days before finally deciding to release them.

Iran is led by a government that should be viewed as a pariah. The government of Iran should be shunned, humiliated and crushed by whatever economic and political sanctions that can be imposed by the United States and its allies--whether with the support of the United Nations and/or other regional alliances or unilaterally.

The isolation of Iran should be, after Iraq, the number one priority of the United States. The time is now. The sooner the better.

Saddam Hussein To Hang Before Sunday

2006-12-28T19:13:00.000-10:00

NBC News is reporting that arrangements are being made to hang Saddam Hussein before the Eid religious holiday that begins at sundown this coming Saturday.

According to MSNBC,
Former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, sentenced to death for his role in 148 killings in 1982, will have his sentence carried out by Sunday, NBC News reported Thursday. According to a U.S. military officer who spoke on condition of anonymity, Saddam will be hanged before the start of the Eid religious holiday, which begins at sundown Saturday.

The hanging could take place as early as Friday, NBC’s Richard Engel reported.

The U.S. military received a formal request from the Iraqi government to transfer Saddam to Iraqi authorities, NBC reported on Thursday, which is one of the final steps required before his execution.
John Donne once wrote, "Do not ask for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee."

I doubt that John Donne was thinking of Saddam Hussein when he penned those words.

While Saddam is a fellow human being, loved by God (who sent his Son to die for the sins of just such a person as this), the measure of a man as he stands before God and humanity is not his "humanity" per se, but his humility, repentence, contrition and willingness to seek forgiveness from and reconciliation with those he has sinned against.

Saddam Hussein has exhibited none of these marks of a man of true, human character.

While existing in human form he is so fallen and corrupted that he is no longer recognizable as one who was created "in the image of God" and declared by God to be "very good."

While I am not a big supporter of the death penalty (for reasons I have expressed here) I have no problem affirming the legitimate right of the Iraqi government to execute the judgement of a constiutionally-based court of law.

If ever a man deserved this penalty it is Saddam Hussein.

While I will not take any pleasure in his death I will be satisfied in entrusting his soul to the higher judgement of God. My theology does not stretch so far as to believe that Jesus Christ will intercede on his behalf.

Once More On Somalia

2006-12-27T17:37:00.000-10:00

Josh Trevino, still guest-blogging on Hugh Hewitt's blog site, has yet another insightful posting on how most of the MSM is simply getting the story wrong. Of all things he credits the NY Times writer, Jeffrey Gettleman, of actually getting the story right. Here is the summary paragraph from the NY Times. It is as concise a statement of what's happening in Somalia right now as I have seen.
The [Somali] Islamists came to power earlier this year as a grassroots movement that drove out Mogadishu’s warlords and restored a semblance of order to a city that was once one of the most violent on the planet. But the goodwill they earned is being sapped away by their decision to attack the transitional government and declare a holy war against Christian-led Ethiopia. That provoked a crushing counterattack by the Ethiopians, who have the strongest military in East Africa and have sided with the transitional government because Ethiopia views the Islamists as a threat to its own security.
UPDATE: Latest reports from Somalia say that the Islamists are fleeing and their militias are disintegrating. Ethiopia now believes that Mogadishu can be taken without a fight. (I'll believe that when I see it. Still, it sounds promising!)

HT: Powerline

Former President Gerald Ford Dead at 93

2006-12-26T21:14:00.000-10:00

Former President & First Lady, Gerald & Betty Ford

One of America's "good Presidents" died today. Gerald Ford, who became the first and only unelected President of the United States when Richard Nixon resigned from office (Ford had been nominated by Nixon and confirmed by the US Senate to replace Vice President Spiro Agnew, who had resigned earlier), was not a great President but was a good one and a good man as well.

His brief Presidency featured two dramatic events:

First was his almost immediate pardon of Nixon from any and all crimes he may have committed (while controversial at the time it has since become widely affirmed as a wise, long-sighted and correct decision);

Second were the two unsuccessful assassination attempts made on Ford in a three-week period by two women, Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme (in San Francisco) and Sara Jane Moore (in Sacramento) in the Fall of 1975.

Ford is also unique in that he did not seek the Presidency but accepted the office (it was widely believed that Nixon would not complete his second term when Ford was appointed VP) out of a sincere desire to serve his country and lead it through one of the worst crises in its history.

He led simply and, in many areas he led with hesitation and uncertainty (consider his approach to the "Swine Flu," his Edsel-like "WIN" ("Whip Inflation Now") program and misplaced (and uninspiring) honesty(?) in his 1975 state of the union address when he declared, "the state of the union is not good."

Among his virtues I suppose the one that stands out the most was his sincere humility. Ford did not seek the limelight of fame and popularity either during his presidency or after his retirement from public office.

Ford was a quiet, uncomplicated and honest man.

He may not have been great . . . but he was good.

And that is more than enough to justify honoring him on the occasion of his passing.

Footnote: Ford recently passed Ronald Reagan as the longest living former President.

Quote of the Day

2006-12-26T20:54:00.000-10:00

From Lt. Col. David Dawson as quoted by James Taranto at Opinion Journal:For the past 20 years I have been telling people the following: "I attended a New England prep school (Loomis Chaffee) and an Ivy League College (Cornell). Since I joined the Marine Corps, I have associated with a better class of person."

Pakistan, Inspired by President Bush, Announces It Will Build Border Fence

2006-12-26T17:15:00.000-10:00

Yep, President Musharraf of Pakistan, is inspired . . . by President George W. Bush, that is. After a thorough-going critique of Bush's plans to build a border fence between Mexico and the United States, Musharraf announced today that he was going to build one, too, alongside his country's border with Afghanistan!

Since imitation is the sincerest form of flattery it seems that Pakistan will be paying the United States, and the current Bush administration in particular, a unique compliment by planning to copy it in almost every detail.

As you can see from the following two design samples we can expect to feel much, much safer very, very soon.

Sure.

Mele Kalikimaka

2006-12-25T12:07:00.000-10:00

That's all...just "Mele Kalikimaka!"

Merry Christmas from Hawaii to you all!